The Russian Federal Communications Agency (Rossvyaz) has started accreditation of organizations that will test and certify LTE equipment, the agency announced on Monday. Accredited organizations will carry out tests of infrastructure related LTE equipment, either imported or produced in Russia, and issue certificates required for using the equipment in the country.
Earlier this month, Soyuz LTE, the consortium of Russian mobile and telecom operators MTS, VimpelCom, MegaFon and Rostelecom formed to investigate the conditions for the deployment of LTE and LTE Advanced infrastructure in Russia, recommended that no more than four operators be appointed to roll out their networks in the two most adequate frequency bands for deploying of LTE networks, 710-862 MHz and 2.5-2.7 GHz.
Oleg Malis, chairman of the consortium’s supervisory board, justified this recommendation by the scarcity of bands that can be made available in the country. 4G business can be profitable only if an operator can operate on a bandwidth of no less than 30 MHz, Malis told business daily Vedomosti on Monday.
Sources: Rossvyaz, RIA Novosti, Vedomosti
