MOSCOW—Two major Russian GSM carriers—MTS and Vimpelcom (BeeLine)—launched their first third-generation (3G) Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) network trial sections this month, and a third carrier is to follow suit in early 2002.
Vimpelcom launched its section comprising two base stations, a controller and a switchboard in the northeast of Moscow and chose Alcatel as a vendor. The MTS section comprises three UMTS Siemens-supplied base stations, a controller and a switchboard in the southeast of the capital.
The St. Petersburg-based North-Western GSM, which cooperates with Ericsson and Nokia, initially said it would follow suit in 2001 but then postponed the launch to early 2002.
However, a full 3G network development in Russia is inhibited by the absence of licenses. The Communications Ministry is in no hurry to issue them, as it wants to first determine the proper prices.
“Earlier we thought that the licenses could be issued in 2001, but now we decided to postpone them until 2002 or longer. We have to attentively study the negative experience of Europe where carriers had to pay too much for 3G licenses,” said Alexander Krupnov, president of the Russian Association 3G, which unites would-be 3G carriers and advises the ministry on the license-issuing procedure.
