MOSCOW—The CDMA technology, which must abandon the 470 MHz to 872 MHz band in Russia by 2010, began to move down to the 450 MHz band, and a second carrier was licensed to build a CDMA 400 MHz network in the country.
The St. Petersburg-based Delta Telecom carrier, which operates an NMT 450 MHz network, received a corresponding permission in October and plans to create a network in the second-biggest Russian city in February 2002.
Lucent Technologies will supply the necessary equipment for the CDMA 400 MHz network. The amount of the deal was not disclosed, however experts estimate the cost of a switchboard and seven base stations at close to US$10 million.
Another Russian NMT 450 carrier, Moscow Cellular Communications (MCC), received a similar permission in the second quarter of 2001 and said test trials of a CDMA 400 MHz network are to begin this month. MCC equipment vendors include Lucent Technologies, Qualcomm and Hyundai Electronics. After Delta creates its network in St. Petersburg, both carriers will test roaming capabilities.
But MCC and Delta stress they deal with “a different CDMA” compared with the already operating Moscow-based SONET and St. Petersburg-based FOR A Communications. Delta Telecom Marketing Director Dmitry Shkenev said the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has included the International Mobile Communications-Multi Carrier (IMT-MC) technology on the list of third-generation (3G) technologies.
“That is not the CDMA which is used by SONET and FOR A,” he said.
In the meantime, SONET and FOR A, which operate CDMA 800 MHz technology based on the IS-95 standard, continue to face problems in Russia. The Communications Ministry restricted the standard in mobility and licensed it to work only as a fixed wireless technology in residential areas lacking landlines. The ministry also ordered AMPS/D-AMPS and CDMA carriers to abandon their spectrum, which is to be occupied by a television technology. The former were offered the 1800 MHz band instead, however, CDMA 800 MHz has failed to achieve any compromise with the ministry so far.
