In Russia, mobile data traffic is projected to grow 18-fold from 2011 to 2016. This increase in demand requires cost effective solutions that improve not only capacity but coverage as well. For this, many operators are turning to femtocell technology. Femtocells are small low-power wireless base stations that connect to mobile networks using residential DSL or fiber connections and can support multiple standard mobile devices. Femtocells deliver a strong signal and high-quality voice service to standard mobile devices in homes, small and large offices, outdoor public spaces, metro hotspots and rural areas. While the market is still quite young it’s quickly gaining popularity. According to ABI Research, 37 operators launched femtocell services in 2011 globally.

The Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) today published the conditions for application for and subsequent awarding of LTE licenses in Russia. Conditions are in line with the decision of the State Committee for Radio Frequencies from September 8, 2011, which were previously made public. Full tender documents are available at the regulator’s website http://www.rsoc.ru/news/rsoc/news15162.htm

Highlights include:

- Four lots are to be made available, each of which consist of of two (2) 7.5 MHz blocks in the range of 791-862 MHz;
- Recipients of each of the lots will also be awarded two (2) 7.5 MHz blocks in the 720-791 MHz range and two (2) 10 MHz blocks in the 2500 – 2690 MHz range
- All of the licenses are nationwide;
- Applications will be evaluated based on a number of criteria, including but not limited to, the applicant’s experience in providing voice and data services; the existence of network infrastructure in regions throughout the Russian Federation, including fiber-optic networks, a commitment to deploy LTE networks in a number of regions in the given period of time, and a commitment to ensure uplink speeds;
- Each lot requires a minimum outlay of RUR 15 billion per year until the LTE network is fully deployed;
- Recipients of each of the lots are obligated to compensating MTS for vacating frequencies that are currently being utilized in Moscow and the Moscow region for the Company's WiMax business in ranges including: 2530-2540 MHz, 2540-2550 MHz, 2550-2560 MHz, and 2560-2570 MHz in the amount of RUR 126.8 million;
- Recipients are also obligated to compensate AFK Sistema for vacating frequencies currently used in Moscow and the Moscow region by Kosmos TV in the amount of RUR 274.1 million;
- Winners of each lot are committed to launching services no later than June 1, 2013;
- Winners of each lot are obligated to fully deploy networks by 2019; and
- Applications must be submitted before June 14, 2012, and results will be announced July 12, 2012.

We are pleased to announce that we have recently signed an agreement with Vimplecom and Megafon to jointly develop mobile commerce in Russia. The agreement provides for integration of our mobile commerce platform Easy Payment with similar platforms of other operators. For our subscribers this will result in the expansion of services and products that can be purchased through Easy Payment.

Likewise, Megafon and Vimpelcom customers will now be able to pay for the services of vendors currently only available through Easy Payment. Collectively, the Big 3 will enable payments to more than 5,000 vendors.  

Easy Payment, first launched in August 2010, allowed MTS subscribers to make quick payments from their mobile accounts or bank cards. Easy Payment has quickly become a popular application with over two million downloads. Most of the subscribers are using the service for topping up accounts with mobile operators, paying for internet services, redeeming consumer loans and transferring money to electronic money systems as well as for transactions with e-commerce merchants.

The pace of the mobile payments’ growth are in Russia astounding. According to the estimates of AC&M consultancy, the volume of mobile payments in Russia more than tripled reaching 14 billion Russian rubles. AC&M expects it to at least double in 2012. The new initiative will help to further increase customers’ awareness of mobile commerce and promote instant payments helping Russia to expand the size of non-cash economy. Cooperation between mobile operators will facilitate access to payments systems for vendors and stimulate e-commerce in Russia.

Sergey Irevly, MTS B2B Products Director, has contributed a byline article to M2M Now business magazine. In this article Sergey writes about M2M contribution to Russia's social and economic advancement and the role MTS plays in it. Click here to read the article

We have recently opened a unified operations center in Russia's third largest city Nizhny Novgorod that will handle all finance and accounting functions for MTS in Russia.  The move is part of our multi-year centralization strategy that will save the company about 3.5 billion rubles (US $114m) by 2017. 

In April, we completed a similar consolidation of our customer service function in Smolensk and found the financial and efficiency return on investment to be well worth the effort.

There has been a small wave of similar consolidations across Europe led most notably by Vodafone and British Telecom in recent years.  More specifically, Vodafone is the middle of a global SAP ERP rollout, and last year British Telecom opened a unified financial center with 750 employees.  These and other efforts clearly indicate that there are tangible scale benefits in doing so.

The Nizhny Novgorod center will handle all revenue accounting, settlements with vendors, accounting of fixed assets, inventory accounting and tax accounting practices. 

The new office will create 300 new jobs in a city well known as an economic center and for its tech-savvy citizens. Here is a picture of the new office.

At the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) 's Telecom World 2011 event, the United Nations Broadband Commission for Digital Development announced “ambitious but achievable” targets for countries to make broadband available and affordable across the globe.

As reported by ZDNet UK, the UN commission stated that “40 percent of households and 50 percent of people in developing countries should have internet access by 2015, and overall 60 percent of people worldwide should be able to get online.”

This Broadband Challenge has been issued to world leaders, top policy-makers, industry leaders, users and consumers underscoring that the “greater communication and understanding made possible through access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) can help us overcome the challenges in our complex and interdependent global society.”

According to AC&M estimates, broadband penetration in Russia currently stands at 30%, while in Moscow and St Petersburg it exceeds 70%. Bringing Russia in the digital age is a part of the MTS mission. We are working on digitizing networks in many of the Russian cities, while in Moscow we have started roll-out of GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network) that enables Internet access at the speeds up to 100 Mbs. Deployment of GPON is an ambitious project that will transform Moscow in one of the best wired cities in the world. By 2015 MTS customers in Moscow will be able to enjoy high-speed Internet access, HDTV and a variety of state-of-the –art content and communication services.