Big Four Licensed For LTE

摘要

Russia's telecoms regulator, Roskomnadzor has awarded 4G LTEnlicences to the 'big four' telecoms firms, as expected, and alsonannounced roll-out requirements for the operators. MTS, Vimpel-nCom, MegaFon and Rostelecom won the tender for licencesnto operate LTE in the 791-862MHz range. Further, it has beennreported that MegaFon is close to completing the merger withnScartel (Yota), which already has LTE licenses. BMI expects thenlicensing and roll-out requirements imposed by Roskomnadzornto boost the Russian broadband market by promoting competitionnacross the country. Meanwhile, we believe the merger withnScartel puts MegaFon in pole position to benefit from growth innwireless data services.