Russia

last updated: January 7, 2002

January 2, 2002:	Telecoms Minister Leonid Reiman has said that Russian third generation (3G) licences will be issued on the basis of tenders rather than by auction. He added that an interdepartmental tender commission will be set up for issuing 3G licences, but declined to give a specific timetable for the licence allocation process. Likely contenders include VimpelCom, Mobile TeleSystems, Moscow Cellular Communications and Sonic Duo, all from Moscow, and Delta Telekom and North-West GSM from St Petersburg.

June 1, 2002:	Russian operators have said that they are aware of the relatively low potential for profit that 3G has. They have also said that they will avoid following the same mistakes that have been witnessed by other operators that have been caught up in debts as a result of overpaying for 3G. The two biggest mobile operators, Vimpelcom and MTS are both in the midst of testing GPRS. Both companies have said that in the areas where demand is low for 3G services, they may substitute in GPRS. The Russian Comms Ministry had said on previous occasion that it would rather use beauty contests as opposed to an auction.