Yota — the first Mobile WiMAX network in Russia
02-09-2008
Scartel company is testing wireless broadband Mobile WiMAX network under the Yota brand in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Scartel LLC has announced the test launch of a mobile broadband network based on Mobile WiMAX technology, to be marketed under the Yota brand. The network provides full coverage within Moscow's Garden Ring and in Vasileostrovsky and Petrogradsky districts of St. Petersburg, and partial coverage in several other districts of the two cities. The company is planning to extend its reach to all districts of the two cities and to certain areas along the major roads leading into them.
Scartel has installed 150 2.5-2.7 GHz base stations in Moscow and 80 base stations in St. Petersburg. A total of 1000 Mobile WiMAX base stations will have been deployed in the two cities. The stations will be connected to the company’s own backhaul network at a minimum speed of 200 Mbps, allowing for up to 10 Mbps data rate throughput. The network deployment is funded by Telconet Capital Limited Partnership, which has invested $300m in the project. Of this sum, $200m have been used so far.
The equipment for the Mobile WiMAX network is supplied under contract by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, one of the leading global brands in telecommunications. «The future has already arrived; what we are now witnessing in Russia, seemed like science fiction yesterday,» says Samsung Electronics Vice-President Dr. Hung Song. «A full-fledged 4G Mobile WiMAX network has come into operation in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Apart from being the largest network in Russia, it is one of the largest Mobile WiMAX networks in the world.»
Mobile WiMAX is a next-generation (4G) technology providing wireless broadband Internet access. What sets it aside from other broadband technologies is that Mobile WiMAX enables the user to move freely within the coverage area while staying online at all times due to seamless handoff between base stations. Yota Mobile WiMAX means the reliability and efficiency of LAN combined with the mobility of a cell phone. Field tests have demonstrated that Yota provides stable connection when the user is moving at speeds up to 120 km/hr inside the coverage area.
Yota customer premise equipment (CPE) comes in three form factors: Samsung and ASUS USB modems, ASUS ExpressCard, and ASUS multiple-access Mobile WiMAX Wi-Fi center which can also be used to connect to Wi-Fi and provides simultaneous wired Ethernet connection for four personal computers and two phones or fax machines. The USB modems and ExpressCards have pre-installed Yota Access software which is essential for establishing the Internet connection. All devices will be available at retail outlets in November 2008.
During the next two months, 2,000 users will be able to take part in full-scale testing of the Yota network.
«We are a service provider committed to delivering a full range of modern mobile services,» says Scartel CEO Denis Sverdlov. «For us, WiMAX is just an instrument making our services truly fast, mobile, and what is the most important, easy to use. We believe that we have created a world-class product that will change the lives of our customers, if at least by a ‘yota.»
Scartel company has all it takes to deploy a nationwide Mobile WiMAX network. We are planning to extend the Yota network to Russia's largest cities with a combined population of over 500,000 people.
About Scartel
Scartel LLC was set up in 2007 to provide mobile broadband Internet services based on the leading-edge next-generation Mobile WiMAX technology (IEEE 802.16e-2005 standard). Scartel uses its purpose-built Mobile WiMAX network to deliver these services which are the cornerstone of the company's business.
The company has launched its first 2.5-2.7 GHz Mobile WiMAX networks in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Scartel is planning to fully cover these cities making Mobile WiMAX available to more than 20 million people.
Scartel is owned by the WiMax Holding Lld company, which also owns the Scartel Starlab research and development center for mobile services and the media content provider More.
The company is headquartered in St. Petersburg and has an office in Moscow. Scartel currently employs 420 staff.
Scartel provides services under the Yota brand. The Yota trademark is registered under the Russian legislation.