VimpelCom and MegaFon have announced a joint project to build and operate base stations and share 4G network deployment in ten Russian regions. They will share the cost of deploying and using base stations, with the network due to launch after Q2 2016.
VimpelCom (NASDAQ:VIP) and MegaFon (MCX:MFON) have announced a joint project to build and operate base stations and share 4G network deployment in ten Russian regions. They will share the cost of deploying and using base stations, with the network due to launch after Q2 2016.
The agreement follows the extension of a 4G spectrum sharing pact between Vimpelcom and MTS, signed in December. Amid ongoing economic uncertainty, Russian operators Vimpelcom and MegaFon are also looking at monetising their towers.
MegaFon CTO Alexander Bashmakov described his company as “the market leader in data services” saying that, as of Q3 2015, 40% of its subscriber base used mobile internet with a 40% of this carried via LTE. The joint RAN-sharing project with VimpelCom will allow us to “enhance harmoniously our [existing 2,600 MHz] infrastructure in the 1,800 MHz band”.
Martin Skop, VimpelCom Russia’s executive vice president for infrastructure development, said: “In 2015, the number of 4G/LTE devices in our network grew by 3.3 times and the number of 4G/LTE base stations grew 1.5 times, with 4G traffic now over four times higher. With the start of this project with MegaFon, we have the widest 4G/LTE network sharing partnership programme of any Russian mobile operator.”
The operators noted that the deployment of over 1,300 new LTE-enabled base stations in regions including Smolensk, Belgorod, Voronezh, Lipetsk, Bryansk and Arkhangelsk, the Republic of Karelia would help eliminate digital inequality.
