MOSCOW, Dec. 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- VimpelCom
Russia (the Beeline Brand) and Mobile TeleSystems (MTS, NYSE: MBT)
have announced a large-scale project to share
4G/LTE radiofrequencies in 20 regions of Russia.
VimpelCom Russia and MTS have signed an amendment to their
December 2014 agreement to jointly
plan, develop and operate 4G/LTE networks in Russia.
The amendment agreement relates to the shared use of airwaves
and radio frequency channels. It provides that VimpelCom Russia and
MTS will share 2,600 MHz LTE frequencies in 20 of the 36 regions of
Russia that were covered by the
original 2014 agreement, namely:
- Kaluga Region
- Omsk Region
- Khabarovsk Territory
- Pskov Region
- Vologda Region
- Yaroslavl Region
- Murmansk Region
- Nizhny Novgorod Region
- Kaliningrad Region
- Orlov Region
- Ingushetia
- Sakhalin Region
- Karachay-Cherkess Republic
- Chechen Republic
- Tula Region
- Kabardino-Balkar Republic
- Orenburg Region
- Mordovia Republic
- Altai Republic
- Chuvash Republic
In each of these regions, VimpelCom Russia and MTS plan to share
airwaves and radio frequency channels across all base stations that
they jointly use pursuant to the 2014 agreement. The amendment
allows for further expansion of the region list for the shared use
of airwaves and frequencies, and it has a six-year term, which is
extendable.
In the long term, the terms of the agreement allow for a
doubling of the peak speeds currently available to MTS and
VimpelCom Russia customers up to 150 Mbps. Average data speeds are
also expected to grow for the 4G/LTE users in the regions covered
by the amendment.
VimpelCom Russia CEO Mikhail
Slobodin said: "The first year of partnership with MTS for
joint operation of networks proved highly effective and promising.
We are satisfied with the quality of cooperation between our
companies and convinced that the share of frequency range and the
entire infrastructure will provide the best quality of 4G/LTE
services in larger areas and deliver the best user experience. We
also praise Russia's Ministry of
Communications and Mass Media for the preparation of the regulatory
framework and the adoption of laws that enable us to double the
peak speed of mobile internet by combining the frequency spectrum
in future."
Andrei Dubovskov, MTS President and CEO, said: "The first
results of the joint project with VimpelCom to develop LTE networks
have exceeded our expectations. In the regions where we installed
and jointly operated base stations, we have increased the number of
LTE subscribers 30% faster than the average pace of growth
throughout Russia. We have also
managed to reduce the costs of construction and joint network usage
by 10-15% compared to our initial estimates. With spectrum sharing,
we expect to bring mobile broadband to remote areas even faster and
anticipate realizing more efficiencies. We are grateful to the
Ministry of Communication and Mass Media for the timely decision,
which should help operators to increase data transfer speeds and
speed up construction of the telecommunications network while
reducing costs."
On December 19, 2014, VimpelCom
Russia and MTS announced that they had signed an agreement to
jointly plan, develop and operate 4G/LTE networks in Russia. Under the terms of that agreement,
between 2014 and 2016, MTS will build and operate 4G/LTE base
stations for shared use in 19 regions, while VimpelCom Russia will
build and operate 4G/LTE base stations for shared use in 17 Russian
regions. The term of the agreement is seven years and can be
extended. Within these years, the operators plan to share base
stations, platforms, infrastructure and resources of the
transportation network in those regions. The agreement, however,
allows both parties to build their own networks to improve
individual 4G/LTE coverage. In the first year of the project, the
operators launched shared 4G/LTE networks in 31 of the 36
regions.
About VimpelCom
VimpelCom, an international telecoms company operating in 14
countries and headquartered in Amsterdam, is one of the world's largest
integrated telecommunications services operators providing voice
and data services through a range of traditional and broadband
mobile and fixed technologies in Russia, Italy, Algeria, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Armenia, Georgia, Laos, and Zimbabwe. VimpelCom's operations around the
globe cover territory with a total population of approximately 740
million people. VimpelCom provides services under the "Beeline",
"Kyivstar", "WIND", "Mobilink", "banglalink", "Telecel", and
"Djezzy" brands. As of September 30,
2015 VimpelCom had 217 million mobile customers and 5.8
million fixed-line broadband customers on a combined basis.
VimpelCom is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the
symbol (VIP).
Follow us on Twitter @VimpelCom, visit our blog @
blog.vimpelcom.com or website @
http://www.vimpelcom.com
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SOURCE VimpelCom Ltd.