Scartel brings mobile WiMAX to Russia

Scartel, which aims to provide broadband internet services in Russia over mobile WiMAX, has announced the pilot launch of 802.16e networks in Moscow and St Petersburg.

Using 150 base stations in Moscow and 80 base stations in St Petersburg – all of which are supplied by Samsung and use the 2.5-2.7GHz frequency band – Scartel is able to provide partial coverage across Russia’s two main cities.

By the end of 2008, with a total of 1,000 base stations, Scartel aims to extend mobile WiMAX across all of the districts in Moscow and St Petersburg to give a population coverage in excess of 20 million.

Scartel says that its backhaul capacity will provide a minimum speed of 200Mbps and that it will be able to achieve up to 10Mbps throughput per base station sector.

The network deployment is funded by Telconet Capital Limited Partnership, which has invested $300m in the project. Of this sum, says Scartel, $200m has been used up so far.

Scartel’s service, marketed under the Yota brand, is expected to go live in November 2008 and will initially offer USB modems from Samsung and Asus, as well as an Asus Express Card. An Asus ‘multiple access mobile WiMAX wifi centre’, which can also connect to wifi and provide simultaneous wired ethernet connection for four PCs and two phones or fax machines, will also be available.

During the next two months Scartel says that 2,000 users will be able to take part in full-scale testing of the Yota network.