By Telecom Lead Team: Russian WiMAX operator Scartel
which received regulatory approval from telecoms regulator Roskomnadzor to
abandon WiMAX for LTE in July 2010, plans to initiate its new network in Moscow
on 15 April.
There will be no test regime. It will be turned online
on the night of 14-15 April. By September 2012 Yota will connect LTE in all of
Russia’s cities, as required by the government radio frequencies commission,”
said Yota General Director Denis Sverdlov.
Yota had previously trialed its LTE network in
Novosibirsk in December 2011.
Mobile giant MegaFon is planning to launch LTE services
in Moscow in the first half of 2012, utilizing Yota’s LTE network. MegaFon had
signed an agreement with Yota to utilize each other’s network infrastructure as
they build out their respective 4G networks.