Russian minister sees 4G LTE tenders announced by July

MOSCOW, Feb 17 (PRIME) -- Russian Communications and Mass Media Minister Igor Shchyogolev said Friday that tenders for frequencies to provide fourth generation (4G) wireless services via the Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology might be announced by the end of June.

“We see no critical problems that would affect the timeline for the implementation of the project. We assume that (the tenders) will be announced in the first half of the year,” Shchyogolev said.

All the technical difficulties, which currently make it impossible to announce the tenders can be solved in two or three weeks, Shchyogolev said.

The Federal Service for Communications, IT, and Mass Communication Oversight’s Director Oleg Ivanov said earlier in February that the regulator had already developed the terms of LTE tenders but could not announce them because the publication, where tender terms are published, was closed.

In September 2011, Deputy Communications and Mass Media Minister Naum Marder said that the ministry planned to hold tenders for radio frequencies suitable for 4G LTE networks in January–March 2012.

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