Category: Networks
Last week, the Russian business daily Vedomosti reported that the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) received a joint request from mobile operator Megafon and WiMAx operator Scartel, which operates under the Yota brand, to authorize a merger.
Head of FAS Igor Artemyev stated that the merger could be authorized under the condition that Scartel makes its LTE network under deployment available to all players without any discrimination.
Since Scartel, a leading Russian WiMax provider operating under the Yota brand, launched Russia’s first LTE network in Novosibirsk in January, new initiatives have confirmed that 4G is on its way towards covering large portions of the Russian Federation.
Roskomnadzor, the state telecom regulator, announced yesterday that the tenders to allocate the remaining LTE frequencies across Russia will take place in approximately one month. These tenders were to have been organized no later than Feb. 1, 2012, but were blocked by an unresolved issue involving AFK Sistema, a leading Russian financial corporation whose two subsidiaries, MTS and Kosmos TV, were slated to exchange their frequencies in the 2500-2700 MHz range in Moscow for a narrower frequency band suited for LTE.
Last week, Rostelecom, the Russian national telecom operator, announced two acquisitions almost simultaneously, reflecting its ambitions to integrate a variety of networks and services across Russia and assert itself as a universal operator.
The company announced it consolidated its ownership of NTK, a leading cable operator, of which it had already bought a 71.8% stake one year ago. Rostelecom paid 13.8 billion rubles, a little less that $470 million, for the remaining 28.2% stake.
Russian Towers, a Russian company that owns, operates, and leases telecommunication towers, secured a $100 million investment last week from a consortium of investors led by the Macquarie-Renaissance Infrastructure Fund (MRIF), which committed itself to invest half of the total.
Another $20 million is coming from emerging market investor ADM Capital, while founding shareholders UFG Private Equity and EBRD are offering $15 million. The latter entities had already contributed $37 million to fund the company since its establishement in 2009.
Scartel, the leading Russian WiMAX operator, working under the Yota brand, will switch to an LTE network in Moscow as early as April 15, CEO Denis Sverdlov told journalists last week. Investment in the project will total $60 million.
The new network will make mobile Internet access cheaper and faster than WiMAX, Sverdlov emphasized, as his company progressively switches to LTE its entire network, which covers many regions of the country. Scartel’s first LTE network launched commercially in mid January in Novosibirsk.
MTS, a major Russian mobile operator, and Rostelecom, the national telecom operator, have agreed to share part of their network infrastructure, including towers (antenna masts) and optical fiber cables, reported Russian business daily Vedomosti.
Rostelecom has the largest network infrastructure in Russia, extending about 500,000 km, or 310,685 miles, covering even remote and underdeveloped territories in Siberia, the North, and the Far East. In exchange for access to them, MTS will make its sites and towers for base stations available to Rostelecom, which is developing mobile services.
Scartel, the Russian WiMAX provider operating under the Yota brand, plans to offer voice services in the near future as a logical consequence of its switch to LTE. The company has just obtained a license for such services and another one to operate as an MVNO.
Scartel is in discussions with Megafon, a major mobile operator, for countrywide coverage beyond the Yota network. Conversely, under agreements announced in late 2011, Megafon will be able to use Scartel’s equipment for its own LTE services.
Fiber-optic telecommunication provider Transtelecom (TTK) is preparing to launch cable TV services next spring in several Russian regions.
“We don’t focus on one technology exclusively,” news agency RIA Novosti quoted TTK President Artem Kudryavtsev as saying. “Depending on the local situation in each region, we may use analog cable TV as well as the digital DVB-C standard and, in a later stage, IPTV.”
After years of strategic discussions, long bureaucratic processes, and unsuccessful attempts to launch 4G, 2012 promises to be the breakthough year for LTE deployment in key areas of Russian territory.
While three players – Scartel, Rostelecom and Osnova Telecom – had received their own frequencies for LTE deployment by the end of 2011, additional frequencies are expected to be obtained in 2012 by Rostelecom and by mobile operators MTS, VimpelCom, and MegaFon. Due to the complexities of frequency conversion, however, only Scartel, as along with MTS and MegaFon in Moscow, are likely to make new LTE networks available for commercial use before the end of 2012. Continue reading
The Russian Antimonopoly Service allowed Rostelecom, the national telecom operator, to acquire 100% of the shares of Enter, a provider of fixed broadband Internet access in Siberia owned by the Dutch company Consumer Enter B. V.
Established in 2005, Enter serves 22,000 customers in Barnaul, Novokuznetsk and Tyumen, three major Siberian cities.
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