MTS has deployed 9,160-plus base stations, so far, in 2015

LTE stations accounted for over 50% of deployments

Russian mobile operator Mobile TeleSystems said it has deployed more than 9,160 base stations across the country, compared to 5,730 base stations installed during the same period last year.

The Russian telco said that approximately 53% of the base stations installed during the period support LTE technology, while 27% of the stations support 3G services.

“Beginning in late 2014, we accelerated the pace of construction and continued our aggressive build out during [the first half of] 2015. Faster network development not only allows us to fulfill licensing requirements and make mobile broadband available to millions of our customers ahead of schedule, but also hedge risks related to ruble volatility,” said Andrei Ushatskiy, VP of technology at MTS. “In [the first half of] 2015, we focused on the deployment of tech-neutral networks by launching over 50% of the base stations in the 1800 MHz range.”

In March, the telco announced capital expenditures of RUB 85 billion ($1.31 billion) for full-year 2015.

MTS said its LTE network is delivering peak speeds up to 75 megabits per second using a single spectrum band. By aggregating spectrum in the 1800 MHz and 2600 MHz bands, MTS said peak speeds will reach 150 Mbps and up to 187 Mbps in some network segments. Over 81% of MTS’s 3G base stations support speeds up to 42 Mbps.

MTS also said that the volume of mobile data traffic on its network grew by 45% year-on-year during the first half of the year. The highest growth was recorded in the Moscow region, as well as in the southern and the Volga regions.

Throughout 2015, MTS said it aims to launch LTE networks in 19 Russian regions and deploy LTE-Advanced networks with the aggregation of two and three carriers in 15 regions across Russia. The operator currently operates LTE technology in 78 regions across the country.

According to the telco’s latest financial report, MTS ended March with 74.5 million mobile subscribers. MTS also operates in Ukraine, Armenia, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.