US / Europe : An industry workshop held this week in Moscow has assessed the expected technological, regulatory and socio-economic impacts of 3G mobile networks on Russia's telecoms industry and end-users.

Jointly hosted by the Russian 3G Association, the Open Mobile Alliance and the UMTS Forum with the support of Informa Telecoms & Media, the 3G Strategic Leadership Seminar offered delegates a unique insight into the drivers for the successful uptake of 3G services in Russia.

The opportunities for successful 3G rollout were examined in the context of current 3G/UMTS deployments globally, with practical examples provided of operator and vendor strategies in other territories where 3G/UMTS has already been deployed. Today, there are more than 70 million subscribers to over 110 operational 3G/UMTS networks worldwide based on W-CDMA radio access technology.

An invited audience of network operators, manufacturers and administrations was welcomed by Vladimir Gorbachev, Deputy of the Russian Federation State Duma who noted that the Russian Federation as a part of the world community has consistently implemented latest-generation infocommunication services and modern technologies. As well as directly affecting manufacturing and service industries, these have also had a profound impact on social structure, economics and policy.

Boris Antonyuk, Deputy Minister of Information Technologies and Communications of the Russian Federation, greeted participants at the event:
"The only way to ensure successful development of the market for high speed data transmission and infocommunication services is the implementation of new cellular network technologies".

Chief of the Federal Agency of Communications Andrey Beskorovainiy emphasised the significance of infocommunication services implementation. In his address to delegates he pointed out the increased role of Russia's 3G Association in this issue.

Participants at the seminar were welcomed by Nurudin Mukhitdinov, General Director of Regional Commonwealth in the field of Communications, who laid emphasis on the importance of interaction between international organisations.

Topics discussed during the one-day workshop included spectrum provision for 3G in Russia, technical standardization, HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) as an enabler for new generation high-speed data services and more efficient use of spectrum, Mobile TV, payment systems for 3G, the role of MVNOs, and 3G in the context of Next Generation Networks and long-term evolution. The seminar also featured presentations from MegaFon and Mobile TeleSystems.

"It's already accepted by over 110 mobile operators and 70 million customers that 3G/UMTS is a logical evolution of today's GSM networks that provides a cost-effective platform for a more satisfying mobile multimedia experience", noted UMTS Forum Chairman Jean-Pierre Bienaimé. "As Russia prepares to license its own 3G networks, it's clear that players in the region can benefit dramatically from experiences already gained in other parts of the world where 3G/UMTS is a commercial reality. In today's workshop we presented a view from the market that will encourage Russia's operators to progress their own 3G plans with confidence."

"Broad adoption of new services depends upon standardized implementations,"
said Jari Alvinen, Chairman of the Board of the OMA. "The OMA recognizes the inevitable adoption of 3G Networks across the globe. We further recognize that cooperation agreements with organizations such as the 3G Association of Russia will ensure that our standards are adopted more readily in emerging markets and spread the experience of our members' deployments over existing 3G and other generation networks. Ultimately, it's about the interoperability of products and services in the Russian market with the same products and services anywhere in the world - no matter what device, what region or what network is used for the delivery or retrieval of information."

"During the last six years the 3G Association has been preparing for the implementation of third generation mobile communication networks technologies in Russia", said Alexander Krupnov, President of the 3G Association. "The major results of the 3G Association activity were covered at the Seminar. Now is the time to forge ahead! The 3G Association's activities will concentrate on market developments of new info-communication services. To reflect these positive advances, the 3G Association General Assembly recently made the decision to change the name of the 3G Association to the Infocommunication Union".

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This Weeks 3G News