MTS, a mobile service provider in Russia, will be deploying Massive MIMO technology – the largest in Europe – to ensure better mobile broadband experience during FIFA World Cup 2018.
Seven of 11 football tournament stadiums, fan zones, selected transportation hot spots and some of Russia’s most famous landmarks will see the deployment of MIMO technology, said Ericsson, the technology supplier to MTS.
MTS engineers will be deploying MIMO technology in two stadiums and fan zones, Sheremetyevo airport, Red Square, Tverskaya Street and Gorky Central Park in Moscow alone.
Saint Petersburg coverage includes stadium and fan zones, Dvortsovaya Square, and Moskovsky railway station. The other covered cities are Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Niznny Novgorod, Samara and Rostov-on-Don. Ericsson installed AIR 6468 for MTS at more than 40 sites across the seven cities.
MTS will be using Ericsson AIR 6468, the industry’s first New Radio (NR)-capable radio designed for compatibility with the 5G New Radio standard while also supporting LTE. It features 64 transmit and 64 receive antennas enabling it to support our 5G plug-ins for both Massive MIMO and Multi-User MIMO.
Ericsson said massive MIMO improves capacity by transmitting data to multiple user devices using the same time and frequency resources with coordinated beam forming and beam steering, said Arun Bansal, head of Europe and Latin America, Ericsson.
“Our Massive MIMO technology, using Ericsson equipment, significantly increases network capacity, allowing tens of thousands of fans together in one place to enjoy high-speed mobile internet without any loss in speed or quality,” Andrei Ushatsky, vice president, Technology and IT, MTS, said.
MTS recently reported revenue of RUB 107.9 billion in Q1 2018, registering 3.1 percent growth. MTS Russia generated RUB 100.1 billion revenue with a growth of 4 percent in Q1 2018. MTS said its cash Capex was RUB 16.7 billion in Q1 2018.
MegaFon, the main rival of MTS, is the communications infrastructure partner of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
The Moscow-based company secured a $71 million contract to supply internet and communications infrastructure to the 11 host stadiums for the global soccer event, as well as to the training camps for all 32 teams, hotels, organising committee facilities and data centres across the country.
