MTS has also deployed 3G networks in
Sochi , Yekaterinburg and
Kazan which will be opened for business as soon as the necessary permits are granted. The company’s official position is that 3G services will be launched in a further ten Russian cities during 2008 but this figure is conservative and it is likely that 3G will actually be available in around twenty cities by the end of the year. Forty more networks will be opened in 2009 and the majority of major Russian population centres will have 3G by 2010. MTS is investing around US$1.6bn in its 3G rollout. MTS’ first four 3G networks were supplied by Ericsson but the company says it may look to other suppliers for future deployments. As MTS has acquired a number of regional operators over the last ten years, it already has infrastructure from a number of different vendors in its 2G network.
Problems with spectrum availability have delayed the launch of 3G in
Russia , with many of the frequencies in the 2GHz band already being utilised by the military. The problem is particularly acute in
Moscow where a special commission, expected to report later this year, is examining issues of interference between 3G and military communications. According to MTS when the 3G service is launched in
Moscow it will probably, at least in the early stages, have to use lower power which will cause problems in terms of in-building coverage.
MTS is confident that there is considerable demand in
Russia for mobile broadband services. In 2007 data usage on the operator’s existing GPRS/EDGE network increased more than sixfold. MTS believes that the higher speeds enabled by the 3G HSPA network, and the new range of services it plans to introduce, will drive data usage, particularly from the enterprise sector. Fixed line broadband penetration is low in
Russia , largely due to the poor condition of the local loop infrastructure. By offering attractive bundled data packages, and with innovative ideas such as mobile broadband sharing for SMEs, MTS will be able to provide a viable alternative to fixed line broadband. The new MTS HSPA network will initially be configured to deliver 3.6Mbits/s which will be upgraded to 7.2Mbits/s as demand grows. HSUPA is also on the MTS roadmap and will be introduced as and when suitable devices become available.
In addition to services such as Internet access, email and file downloading/uploading, MTS is also offering video telephony which it believes will prove a hit with its 3G customers. In the longer term, when issues over content ownership can be resolved, MTS plans to introduce mobile TV services featuring many of
Russia ’s most popular programmes.
Ian Channing 
