Russia gets first LTE network

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Russia gets first LTE network

Yota goes live in Siberia, but future of collective 4G venture is in doubt

By CAROLINE GABRIEL

Published: 20 December, 2011

READ MORE: Spectrum | Russia | Infrastructure | LTE

After various false starts, Russian operator Yota has gone live with the country's first LTE network, the first step in a planned wholesale system to support 4G services for the main operators.

Yota (the brand name of Scartel), has switched on its LTE system in Russia's third largest city, Novosibirsk in Siberia. "We can say for a fact that today the first commercial LTE network has been launched in Russia," said general director Denis Sverdlov.

The first phase of Russia's progress towards LTE revolves around a plan, announced earlier this year, for the three main cellcos (VimpelCom, MTS and Megafon) plus fixed line giant Rostelecom, to use Yota's network on a wholesale basis. This would accelerate their progress into 4G, and reduce their cost and risk, while they wait for further spectrum allocations, particularly the freeing up of bands currently held by the military.

Various complications have arisen and while Megafon and Rostelecom were recently reported to have finalized their deals with Yota, the other two cellcos seem to be hesitating, possibly because they will be forced to give up valuable, and active, frequencies in Moscow and St Petersburg in return for their stake in the Yota venture. Both MTS and VimpelCom also plan to expand their activities around Novosibirsk.

It may be that these two cellcos will choose to wait for new auctions rather than tie their 4G destinies to a shared venture with all its potential conflicts of interest. VimpelCom said in a recent statement that it hopes that 2012 LTE spectrum auctions will be "fair", and that it would like to see a bigger device ecosystem before launching its network. Meanwhile, MTS was also distancing itself from the collective approach, telling TotalTelecom that it had a "massive LTE-ready 3G network in Russia ... which can be rolled out in Moscow already in the spring of 2012. One should understand that the 3G resource in Russia has not been tapped out and at this time it amply answers the growing demand in mobile internet."

Until January 15, Yota's new network will operate in test mode and then will go commercial, with its first modem priced at R2,990 ($93). The carrier is making the transition from WiMAX, on which it offers services in Moscow, St Petersburg and other markets - this migration is mandated to be complete by September next year. In August, Yota made its first attempt to switch on LTE but was prevented because the regulatory ruled it had not obtained the necessary permits.