China's Huawei to supply 3G equipment to Tajik telco Tacom

May 7, 2006

Chinese telecommunications equipment producer Huawei Technologies has signed a contract to supply 3G mobile equipment to Tacom, a Tajik subsidiary of Russia's second largest mobile operator VimpelCom, VimpelCom's press office said Tuesday.

To start, Huawei is expected to supply about 80 GSM base stations, several UMTS 3G base stations and a switchboard, VimpelCom said.

VimpelCom is currently working on the Tajik 3G project and plans to start construction of the network by July, the company said, adding that Tajikistan would be the first country where VimpelCom has launched a 3G network.

VimpelCom is a leading telecommunications operator in the Commonwealth of Independent States, with activities in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. VimpelCom's total mobile subscriber base stood at 48.053 million users as of March 31, according to Advanced Communications & Media (AC&M).

Tacom holds licenses to provide mobile services in GSM 900/1800, UMTS, CDMA450 and AMPS standards in Tajikistan.

Russia's third largest mobile operator MegaFon launched its 3G network in Tajikistan in 2005.