IR Blog

We have launched commercial 3G network in Belarus this week. The network is based on the HSPA+ technology, allowing up to 21 Mbit/s download and 11 Mbit/s upload speeds. The network is currently available in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, and will be expanded to the major cities and regional centers of the country by the end of the year.

In addition, we have fulfilled our 3G license requirement for the commercial 3G network in Russia following the launch of the network in the last remaining federal subject, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. As of today, MTS has commercial 3G networks in all Russian federal subjects.

We are launching an instant money transfer service using our retail network to provide customers with the ability to make money transfers in Russia and abroad. This will allow us to expand our service portfolio, as well as to attract more customers to our retail stores.

Currently, customers can transfer money after paying a commission that amounts to 1.6% of the total amount for intra-Russia transfers and 2% for transfers to the CIS. In the near future, the service will expand outside of the CIS to include transfers to such countries as Bulgaria, Germany, Israel, Spain, Italy, Canada, China, Poland, Vietnam, the UK and the USA. Customers can make use of the service at all MTS-owned stores in Russia - the current list of locations is available on our Russian-language website.

Pavel Roytberg, Director for Products and Services at MTS Russia, receives the GSMA Global Mobile Award.

We have attended the 2010 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week and wanted to share some highlights of MTS at the show for the readers of our blog.

In a video interview below with Light Reading TV, Dr. Michael Hecker, Vice President for Strategy and Corporate Development at MTS, discusses the rising demand for data in our markets, our growth outlook and plans for LTE.



There have also been a number of announcements at the show relevant to MTS:

3G network in Moscow, as of January 15, 2010.

At the end of December 2009, we launched our commercial 3G network in Moscow, complementing our existing coverage in the Moscow region and throughout Russia. At the time of launch, our network consisted of 197 base stations, which allowed us to offer extensive coverage within the MKAD (the so-called beltway, or highway, that surrounds Moscow) to a population of over 10 million.  By the end of January, we will have installed up to 300 base stations to serve Russia's capital.  For the latest network map, click here.

We estimate that data traffic has already increased 2-3 times in areas where both 2G and 3G networks are available, compared to the traffic prior to the launch of 3G. Currently, we have a variety of special tariffs for 3G users, including unlimited ones.

This week we announced a joint project with the Moscow United Energy Company (MOEK) to deploy an Automatic Control and Production Management System in a Moscow neighborhood Chertanovo. It is expected that the project will expand to all other properties served by MOEK, the largest provider of thermal energy in Moscow, that delivers water and heating to around 70% of residential and commercial properties in the city.

Under the current project, MTS will install SIM-cards into energy and water meters, enabling MOEK to collect data from their properties and receive real-time updates on usage trends. Wireless transmission of metering data will significantly increase the efficiency of energy planning and allow savings of up to 10% on energy consumption (according to experts quoted in the Energorynok magazine). While already popular in Western Europe and the US, smart metering is just taking off in Russia, and the new monitoring project we are launching with MOEK will be the largest in Moscow.

We believe that machine-to-machine communications will be an important part of our industry’s future, and MTS has already launched several projects in this area. For instance, we are working with DHL to track deliveries and provide instant updates about the location of couriers. We are also working with the Moscow Metro and the Zelenograd Bus Depot (Zelenogradskiy Avtokombinat), where in-built SIM-cards are used to monitor locations of trains and buses to increase efficiency of their movement from the control center.

Mobile Internet is taking off rapidly in Russia, as all three national mobile operators already operate 3G networks and offer mobile Internet modems. We have been selling the MTS Connect modem in Russia since early 2008 and have sold over 600,000 modems since July 2008, as 3G networks were launched across the country. Currently, we estimate that around 200,000 modems are being sold monthly in Russia by mobile operators, CDMA operators and WiMAX providers, and MTS Connect accounts for around 30% of the total.

Yesterday, we announced a partnership with Intel to support the uptake of mobile Internet solutions in Russia. The first joint initiative under this partnership is a promotion of a bundled offer that will include an Intel-powered netbook, an MTS Connect modem and a special MTS tariff plan.

Today we have brought 3G to the underground world of Moscow. The first 3G network in the Moscow Metro was launched on Universitet station, named after the nearby Moscow State University.

Moscow Metro is the main public transport of the capital carrying about 9 mln passengers on a typical week day (2008 data, source: Moscow Metro Annual Report 2008). We are certain that gaining access to fast data connections through 3G will appeal to passengers, as they can read the latest news, send emails or browse the Internet using their mobile devices. In order to spur the uptake in familiarity and usage of 3G-enabled services, we decided to launch the first phase of the network on the station where the younger educated crowd is commuting to one of the most prestigious universities in Russia. In fact, we have noticed that in the Russian cities where 3G networks have already been launched, students and young people are some of the heaviest users of the new services enabled by 3G.

Our CTO Andrei Ushatskiy noted today that MTS was the first operator to bring mobile networks to the Moscow Metro in 2000, and that we continue to bring innovative solutions to our customers traveling underground. We are planning to expand 3G networks in the Moscow Metro and cover all the stations on one of the busiest lines, Koltsevaya (Ring Line), during this Fall.

For more information about our 3G network expansion in Russia, please see our post from June 22.

Given the size of Russia, it comes as no surprise that we are constantly adding new communities to the coverage map of MTS. In 2008, our network extended to over 900 communities in Russia with a population of over 1,000 inhabitants. We have deployed over 4,700 additional base stations representing an increase of over 20% of the overall base station count.

The westernmost location of our network is Baltiysk, a seaport town in the Kaliningrad Oblast. The northernmost point is Borisoglebsk, a town in the Murmansk Oblast bordering Norway. One of the most unique locations is in northern Russia, in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug on the shores of the Barents Sea, which can be reached only by air.