A Russian mobile phone operator is the newest service provider to join Microsoft to offer Windows PCs through subscriptions to the company's Unlimited Potential program.

The partnership with Mobile TeleSystem OJSC (MTS), announced on Wednesday (13/02) during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, is similar to other Microsoft partnerships in Brazil and Mexico that seek to facilitate the access of developing countries to technology.

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With the partnership, Microsoft will deliver, in June, computers running Windows Vista that already allow broadband access to Mobile TeleSystem subscribers, instead of charging a separate fee for that service. The two companies should also introduce new mobile communication services that can be accessed by these PCs, but have not yet revealed which services they will be.

Both computers and services will be offered to around 85 million MTS customers in Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Belarus as part of MTS Connect, the company said.

The MTS agreement resembles the alliances Microsoft already has with Telmex operators in Mexico and Telefônica in Brazil, which offer low-cost computers through the Subscription Computing Program (SCP), prior to the Unlimited Potential . SCP has become part of the Unlimited Potential, for which Microsoft works with community leaders from countries where technology does not yet have such an impact on business and communications.

Unlimited Potential is directly related to Bill Gates' idea of "creative capitalism", which states that companies must join governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to discover ways to help the poorest without sacrificing their business models. Gates recently reinforced this idea in his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Analysts pointed out another reason why Microsoft would be interested in helping emerging countries: the fight against Linux, which has proved to be a more affordable and cheaper technology option. Unlimited Potential and creative capitalism certainly combine altruism with financial interests, and Microsoft executives have already admitted the need to invest in education and development to put software such as Office and Windows into the hands of people who could not acquire them.

Source: WorldWEB