MTS rolled out 3G network in Perm
MTS, the largest cellular network operator in Russia and CIS, announced commercial launch of the first 3G network in Russian city Perm covering the business center of the city and airport Bolshoye Savino. Perm is a city and administrative center of Perm Krai, Russia. It is situated on the banks of the Kama River, in the European part of Russia near the Ural Mountains. Perm's 2007 estimated population was 990,200.
Users of MTS 3G network in Perm can use mobile internet at speeds up to 3.6 Mbit/s. MTS is the first operator to roll out 3G network in Perm.
MTS 3G subscribers in Perm will be able to make video calls free of charge till September 12, 2009. In addition, from September 4 to September 12 MTS 3G subscribers can use free bundles of internet data. Subscribers signed up to MTS Konnekt and MTS Konnekt-2 data plans will get 100 Mb of internet data in 3G network. Subscribers of other popular data plans will get 30 Mb of 3G data.
Outgoing video call for MTS subscribers in Perm region will cost 4 rubles (approx. $0,13) per minute; outgoing video call to MTS numbers in other regions of Russia will cost 10 rubles per minute. Data transfer and voice calls in 3G network are priced in accordance with the current subscriber's data plan.
Today 3G networks are available in the following Ural cities – Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Magnitogorsk, Tyumen, Surgut, Nizhnevartovsk, and Perm. In the nearest future MTS is planning to launch 3G networks in Kurgan.
In the second quarter 2009 the volume of 2G and 3G traffic in Ural District grew by 33% comparing to the first quarter of 2009. 3G traffic volume grew by 2,2 time for the same period.
Today MTS 3G networks operate in all federal districts of Russia: Ural, Far East, Siberia, South, North-West, Volga region, Moscow and Central district, - altogether in 38 Russian cities. Nowadays more than half of all active MTS 3G users generate at average about 1Gb data a month.
Till the end of 2009 MTS is going to build new 3G networks and develop existing ones in more than 40 cities of Russia. The projected amount of funds invested by operator in 3G networks development in Russia in 2008 – 2009 will comprise about 700 million dollars.
В© Oxana Vassilyeva