MOSCOW-The cdma2000 technology based on the International Mobile Telecommunications-Multi Carrier (IMT-MC) standard and operating in the 450 MHz band finally acquired federal status in Russia.
Communications Minister Leonid Reiman signed an order “on the federal network of mobile communications of the IMT-MC-450 standard in the frequency band of 450 MHz.” The document said the new standard is to replace analog NMT 450 MHz technology, which however, is to be operated until the corresponding licenses expire.
Cdma2000 made the first step toward federal status in March 2002 when the Communications Ministry approved technical requirements for the equipment and stages of trial network construction.
Since then, Russian NMT 450 MHz carriers have been gradually moving to the new technology. St. Petersburg-based Delta Telecom was the first to launch a commercial cdma2000 network last year and is to be followed shortly by Moscow Cellular Communications (MCC), Cellular Communications of Bashkortostan (CCB) on the Volga, Uralvestcom in the Urals, Yuzhnaya Telecmmunications Company (YuTK) in the south of the country, and Kuzbass Cellular Communications in Siberia.
