VimpelCom Russia which operates under the Beeline brand and Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) have announced an extension to an agreement they signed in December 2014 to share the 2.6GHz radio frequencies used for 4G LTE across 20 regions in Russia. Both companies have signed an amendment to the earlier agreement to jointly plan, develop and operate 4G/LTE networks, where VimpelCom Russia and MTS agreed to share mobile spectrum. The new six-year term deal, which is extendable allows both operators to double peak customer data speeds to 150 Mbps.
VimpelCom Russia CEO Mikhail Slobodin
We are satisfied with the quality of cooperation between our companies and convinced that the share of frequency range and the entire infrastructure will provide the best quality of 4G/LTE services in larger areas and deliver the best user experience.
Andrei Dubovskov, MTS President and CEO
In the regions where we installed and jointly operated base stations, we have increased the number of LTE subscribers 30% faster than the average pace of growth throughout Russia. We have also managed to reduce the costs of construction and joint network usage by 10-15% compared to our initial estimates.
