MegaFon starts 4G LTE deployment in Russia (Russia)

MegaFon is the first of the ‘Big Three’ Russian mobile operators to provide its subscribers with 4G mobile services. The first 4G network was launched in Novosibirsk. In the nearest future, the Company plans to deploy 4G networks in Moscow, Sochi, Krasnodar and other Russian cities.

Higher Internet connection speed is the main consumer benefit of the 4G networks compared to previous generation mobile networks. LTE technology (Long Term Evolution), the core technology of 4G, supports a 50Mbit mobile connection speed and enables a fast and efficient transfer of large amounts of data.

4G device owners will enjoy both higher quality and faster speed of their existing services: social networks, photo exchange and video sharing, e-mail services, navigation and traffic systems, web-browsing, and others. LTE technology provides consumers with more comfortable working conditions due to increased speed and decreased latency with web content being loaded without delay.

Valery Ermakov, Chief Operating Officer of MegaFon OJSC, said that MegaFon is the leading mobile data transfer operator in Russia. With 3G network development and deployment, they made mobile internet readily available to millions of people in Russia. Their network infrastructure is perfectly prepared for moving up to the new technological levels. They are taking a significant step forward by deploying 4G access that is in the best interests of Russian consumers, as well as the Russian economy.

The main technological advantage of MegaFon’s 4G network is it’s compatibility with existing 3G and 2G (GSM) networks, which currently cover the majority of the Russian territory. It means that the owners of 4G mobile devices will be automatically reconnected to 3G/2G networks if they are out of 4G coverage. Therefore, they will not lose mobile internet connection during the switch.

MegaFon has prepared a special offer for 4G newcomers in Novosibirsk. The new universal modem “MegaFon E392” is on sale in MegaFon retail outlets. The price of this “4WD” is USD 100. In addition, new 4G users will have free internet access until June 30, 2012.

MegaFon is planning to deploy 4G networks in Moscow, Krasnodar and Sochi in the first half of the year, and in Saint Petersburg, Samara, Vladivostok, Ufa, Kostroma and some other cities by the year end.