Svyazinvest chooses LTE for 4G network

MOSCOW, RUSSIA: Russian state telecoms giant Svyazinvest has chosen long-term evolution (LTE) technology for its fourth-generation mobile networks, its chief executive said, another win for LTE over rival technology WiMax.

Most international carriers so far have picked LTE technology to help cope with the surge in data traffic from mobile data cards and smartphones, as the equipment costs are lower than for WiMax.

"We have made a decision to develop LTE because it is more promising than WiMax. Globally, there are much more producers of LTE equipment, and this means that network stations that support this standard are cheaper," Yevgeny Yurchenko told the Kommersant business daily in an interview published on Wednesday.

Long-distance call operator Rostelecom, controlled by Svyazinvest, has won licenses to provide services in the 2.3 to 2.4 GHz frequency band in 38 out of 40 regions in Russia auctioned since the beginning of the year.

Under the tender rules, it must build the networks using Russian-made equipment, and Yurchenko said the Telecoms Minister had yet to finalise the criteria defining which producers can be considered local.

The world's first commercial mobile network using LTE technology began operating in Oslo and Stockholm in December.