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WiMAX in Moscow and Armenia
Mobile WiMAX plans for 184 base stations and radio equipment partners unveiled for Russia and Armenia.
Comstar UTS, a provider of telecommunication services in Russia, announced mobile WiMAX expansion plans in Moscow this week. In addition, its subsidiary in Armenia announced the first phase completion for its mobile WiMAX network in the republic. Nortel and Airspan have been named equipment partners in the Comstar ventures.
Comstar's WiMAX network in Moscow claims to be the first based on 802.16e-2005 (Mobile WiMAX) equipment. Build-out of 160 base stations and infrastructure at a cost of US$20 million is expected to conclude by year-end. Moscow will use radio kit from Nortel in the 2.5~2.7 GHz frequency band. Sergey Pridantsev, President and Chief Executive Officer of Comstar UTS, commented: "The mobile WiMAX network, which will be added to other broadband internet access technologies, will allow us to provide a very broad range of telecommunications services to our subscribers in Moscow, whether at home, in the office or on the street."
Cornet-AM, Comstar's subsidiary in the Republic of Armenia, announced it had completed the installation of 24 base stations using Airspan radios in the 3.6~3.8 GHz band based on the 802.16e-2005 standard. The operator has licenses to provide wireless coverage in nine provinces ("marzes") of Armenia. Cornet's network claims to enable the provision of a full range of telecommunications services, such as digital telephony, high-speed internet access, conference calling and creating virtual private networks for residential and corporate subscribers. "We have implemented the first part of our strategic project aimed at expanding our presence in Armenia," said Victor Koresh, vice president for regional development at Comstar. "The next step involves the development of the voice services in the Republic." Cornet-AM applied earlier this year for 60,000 telephone numbers to build a competitive voice offering.
The capital city of the Russian Federation, Moscow, is home to 10.57 million of the country's 143.4 million population. A March 2007 report showed Russia's Internet penetration approaching 20% with one in ten Internet users realizing broadband speeds. Armenia bridges Eastern Europe and Western Asia with an estimated population of 3.3 million. The country has an exceptionally low Internet penetration of 5.4% and only 2,000 broadband users as of September 2007, according to an ITU study.
By Jeff Orr
ORR Technology, LLC
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