MOSCOW-Moscow Cellular Communications (MCC), which so far has been operating an NMT 450 network, announced it is planning to start a GSM service next year. The third-biggest Moscow-based carrier said it would complete the buildout of a trial zone consisting of 12 base stations operating in the GSM 400 MHz MHz band in November in the Moscow region. The network is based on Ericsson equipment.
The test trials of the GSM network are to be completed early next year, and the carrier then plans to receive a license from the Communications Ministry for commercial operation.
Besides MCC, the Finnish Sonic Duo company also plans to launch a GSM service in Moscow next year, thus bringing the total number of GSM carriers in the capital to four.
However, Anton Pogrebinsky, a telecom consultant with Moscow-based J’Son & Partners telecom consultancy, said the two major Moscow-based carriers-Mobile Telesystem (MTS) and Vimpelcom-are expanding so rapidly in the capital that room for a new carrier is dramatically diminishing. “Time is working for MTS and Vimpelcom,” he said.
