Russia’s communications ministry has reportedly sent the president’s office a draft proposal to create a 100% state-owned nationwide 4G/LTE mobile network that would use spectrum already allocated to existing operators.
Russian daily Vedomosti…
Russia’s communications ministry has reportedly sent the president’s office a draft proposal to create a 100% state-owned nationwide 4G/LTE mobile network that would use spectrum already allocated to existing operators.
Russian daily Vedomosti reported that the ministry has called for the redistribution of frequencies to a new state-owned company that would build a pan-Russian network and charge mobile operators state-regulated access fees.
According to the paper, which claimed to be familiar with the proposal, the ministry wants to access the 750-750MHz and 761-862MHz bands as well as any available spectrum in the 390-470MHz and 694-876MHz bands.
Not surprisingly, Vedomosti reported that the nation’s ‘big four’ mobile network operators, which collectively own more than half the spectrum in question, are “outraged” at the news.
In July last year, MTS, MegaFon, Vimpelcom and Rostelecom all won 4G licences in the 791-862MHz band at an auction carried out by regulator Roskomnadzor. Their licences require them to satisfy certain commitments through to 2019, including investing at least Rbs15bn (€350m) per year in network development. Last month, the regulator announced that all four had met the prescribed deadline for launching commercial services.
However, the Russian paper reported that the ministry is dissatisfied with the operators’ progress in rolling out 4G and believes the spectrum is not allocated efficiently. In the ministry’s view, reallocating the frequencies to a company that operated a Russia-wide network would accelerate 4G development and bridge the digital divide.
Spokespeople for MegaFon and VimpelCom were quoted as saying such a proposal would have negative effects upon the Russian telecoms sector and wider investment landscape. An unnamed sector source was quoted as saying the proposal is not financially viable and significantly undervalues the cost of rolling out base stations.
