Siberia Gets its First 3G Services

Russia's MTS has become the first operator to offer 3G coverage in  Siberia and the Russian Far East after it expanded its network to include Novosibirsk, Norilsk and Vladivostok. The Company says that it intends to launch 3G networks in at least 14 cities during 2008 and in up to 40 cities in Russia through 2009.

Vladivostok is Russia's largest port city on the Pacific Ocean, and is situated at the head of the Golden Horn Bay not far from the Russo-Chinese border and North Korea. It is the home port of the Russian Pacific Fleet. Novosibirsk is Russia's third-largest city, after Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Norilsk is the northernmost city in Siberia and the world's second largest city (after Murmansk) above the Arctic Circle.

MTS launched the first pan-regional 3G network in Russia in May 2008 in St. Petersburg followed by Sochi, Yekaterinburg and Kazan. In August 2008, MTS expanded its 3G network to Nizhniy Novgorod. In September 2008, the Company brought next-generation networks to Novosibirsk and Norilsk, the two large industrial centers in Siberia, and Vladivostok, the largest city in the Russian Far East.

MTS also holds 3G licenses in Uzbekistan and Armenia, where the networks are scheduled for launch in 2009.

The Mobile World subscriber tracker reports that MTS ended the first half of this year with some 61.4 million subscribers, representing a market share of 35.5% - making it the largest operator in the country by subscriber base.

Posted to the site on 18th September 2008