MOSCOW—The Russian Ministry for Anti-Monopolist Policy (MAP) ruled in April that the decision of the Communications Ministry to oust U.S.-developed CDMA and AMPS carriers from the 800 MHz band by 2010 was unlawful.
The Communications Ministry issued a corresponding order in April 2000 saying the spectrum is to be freed for a digital television technology. However, Anatoly Golomolzin, deputy anti-monopoly minister, said MAP had ruled that the order violated anti-monopolist legislation. An instruction to eliminate the violations will be sent to the Communications Ministry in several days, he said.
“In order to use the 800 MHz band for cellular television, it is necessary to carry out additional research to understand whether (the project) is implementable in our conditions. The Communications Ministry has not conducted such a research, and therefore, its position on cellular television issues has insufficient arguments,” Golomolzin told the Vedomosti newspaper.
The ruling came after MAP considered an independent analysis of CDMA and AMPS compatibility with digital television and probed whether the Communications Ministry’s order corresponded to the law on competition, which bans authorities from limiting competition among operating companies and from creating unequal conditions for them and prohibits agreements between authorities and companies that restrict competition.
“MAP analyzed information on the development of CDMA networks in the world and the corresponding issue in Russia and acknowledged that there are no clear reasons to oust CDMA from air,” said Valentin Kosykh, executive director of the CDMA Association.
However, Anton Pogrebinsky from J’Son & Partners telecom consultancy in Moscow said MAP’s decision will not solve the main CDMA 800 MHz problem in Russia, where it was introduced as a fixed-wireless technology for areas lacking landlines.
“It operates on a limited market segment and is intended for a specific group of users in contrast to GSM that operates for everyone. Therefore, CDMA cannot compete with GSM,” he said.
The Communications Ministry has not yet commented on the MAP decision. Earlier it suggested that CDMA carriers follow AMPS operators and move to GSM 1800 MHz technology.
However, in contrast to AMPS carriers, many of which have already received new licenses, CDMA carriers made it clear they want to preserve the current spectrum and even claimed the frequencies released by AMPS.
In contrast to the CDMA IS-95 standard, cdma2000 technology based on the International Mobile Telecommunications-Multi Carrier (IMT-MC) standard is facing no problems in Russia and is likely to receive a federal status soon.
