Europe / Russia : Russia has the potential to become a world leader in advanced mobile communications if it follows a transparent and objective approach to licensing third-generation spectrum, according to the GSM Association, the global trade association for mobile operators. The mobile sector in Russia has achieved extraordinary growth over the past three years – the number of mobile connections has more than quadrupled to 146 million - thanks to a government policy that has allowed market forces to thrive.

The Russian government recently announced that it will tender 3G licenses in the 2GHz spectrum band early next year. The smooth licensing and rollout of 3G networks would enable Russians to use their handsets to access the Internet at high-speeds, download video and audio clips and tap a host of other mobile broadband services, as well as to connect desktops and laptops to the Internet using wireless broadband.

"Russia has already achieved more than 100% mobile penetration thanks to the huge popularity of wireless communications among Russians and the government's good work in fostering a market driven mobile sector based on strong competition," said Tom Phillips, Chief Government & Regulatory Affairs Officer at the GSMA. "A transparent 3G licensing process, with well-thought out and clear rules for the bidders and based on thorough consultation with all stakeholders in the mobile sector, will give the industry the confidence to invest in new mobile broadband infrastructure that will help fuel social and economic development."

In Moscow this week, the GSM Association hosted a workshop on 3G Licensing in cooperation with the 3G Association of Russia and supported by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technologies of the Russian Federation.

Greeting the participants in the workshop, Boris Antonyuk, Deputy Minister of Information Technologies and Communications of the Russian Federation, said: "Implementation of new generation services helps to develop an infocommunication society in Russia." He also noted the wide-ranging activity of the GSM Association and the 3G Association in the field of networks implementation.

Alexander Krupnov, President of the 3G Association, emphasized the importance of interaction among international organizations. He said that the workshop demonstrated the importance of international experience in facilitating the development of new mobile services in Russia. He also pointed to the 3G Association's increasing role in the development of new mobile services in Russia and noted that the Association recently registered to change its name to 'Infocommunication Services Market Participants Union' (Infocommunication Union).

Other participants at the workshop included senior executives from Russian mobile operators and representatives of research and scientific centers. Frontier Economics, the international consultancy, presented a study on spectrum auctions and tenders, which stresses the importance of a dialog between government and the private sector to ensure that the licensing process encourages investment in new mobile infrastructure. A full copy of the study, which was commissioned by the GSMA, can be found in Russian and English at www.gsmworld.com:

Notes to editors:
The Third Generation Telecommunication Networks Operators Association (3G Association) was founded in December 1999. The 3G Association's objective is co-ordinating activities of parties involved in establishing and developing perspective mobile networks such as 3G networks in Russia.

The 3G Association is comprised of the 5 leading Russian cellular networks operators: Delta Telecom (SkyLink), MegaFon, Mobile TeleSystems, Moskovskaya Sotovaya Svyaz (SkyLink) and VimpelCom (Beeline). The group of associated members consists of the 40 companies and organizations: ?ellular & long-distance, fixed & transit networks operators; research-and-development, research-and-production and engineering organizations; vendors; content and service providers and software development companies, system integrators; investment and consulting companies, conference and exhibition organizers. Official partners: ETSI, GSMA, UMTS Forum, CDG, IA450, ITU-T, OMA, World DAB Forum, GRFC, MTUCI.

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