MTS interested in LTE-1800 but only as future option

MOSCOW. March 20 (Interfax) - Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) (RTS: MTSS), one of Russia's top three mobile operators, is prepared to build 4G LTE networks in the 1800 MHz band if technology neutrality for this bandwidth is secured by law, but believes it would be better to go slow so as not to hurt voice traffic in the GSM-1800 network, MTS vice president for operations Alexander Popovsky said in an interview with Interfax.

He said the Radio Research Institute and telecom companies, which the State Commission for Radio Frequencies (GKRCh) has asked to test LTE on 1800 MHz frequencies for possible interference with voice traffic by June 1, have not begun testing yet but are making preparations to conduct field studies with the actual roll out of a test network.

Tele2 and SMARTS already conducted tests of LTE-1800 in 2012.

"Before, only mathematical modelling was done. We insisted - and GKRCh and other operators supported our position - that it's important to do field testing with the installation of base stations in order to determine what guard interval there should be between the GSM network and the LTE network. This will allow us to be sure that the launch of LTE on these frequencies will not subsequently affect the quality of voice services," Popovsky said.

MTS's GSM-1800 network carries a substantial amount of voice traffic. Before launching an LTE network in the 1800 MHz bandwidth, voice traffic should first be moved to other frequency bands, Popovsky said.

"Technology neutrality in the 1800 MHz bandwidth is potentially very important for us, because building LTE networks on these frequencies is considerably cheaper than in the 2.5-2.7 MHz bandwidth. The only problem is GSM voice traffic, the transfer of which to another bandwidth will require time. We plan that we will be able to do this work within about three years. This is a good timeframe, because by that time base stations that will operate on several frequencies simultaneously will be deployed on a large scale," Popovsky said.

The chief lobbyists for technology neutrality for the GSM bandwidth of 1800 MHz are regional operators, particularly Tele2 and SMARTS. In the spring of 2012 they did a study with the Radio Research Institute that showed LTE-1800 does not affect the quality of voice services. However, GKRCh and the bigger telecom providers said the study was not sufficiently large in scale and in December the commission instructed operators, including the country's top three, to conduct a new study by June 1, 2013.

The commission plans to make a decision on the possible technology neutrality of the 1800 MHz bandwidth in the third quarter of 2013.

Vp

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