COMING BACK: Russian mobile communications provider MTS will resume services in the Central Asian nation of Turkmenistan at the end of August after 20 months offline.

WHAT HAPPENED: Authorities suspended MTS subsidiary Barash Communication Technologies' license in late 2010, leaving 2.4 million subscribers without service.

THE RETURN: That should prove a boon to mobile phone and Internet users in the isolated ex-Soviet state, though the company warned that customers might initially experience poor quality connections.