Russia’s top three mobile operators MTS, MegaFon & VimpelCom  have asked the Communications Ministry not to allow the distribution of LTE-frequency on non-competitive basis as companies mi

Russia’s top three mobile operators MTS, MegaFon & VimpelCom  have asked the Communications Ministry not to allow the distribution of LTE-frequency on non-competitive basis as companies might acquire them for further sale, reports Russian daily Kommersant.

Quoting a letter, signed by MTS President Mikhail Shamolin, MegaFon CEO Sergey Soldatenkova and VimpelCom CEO Helena Shmatova , Kommersant reports that the operators have asked the Minister to commission further work “on the elaboration of clear and transparent approach to the allocation of state radio for development communication standard LTE in Russia.” 

Kommersant  further says that the new players will not build their own networks, but only receive frequency and then choose to sell their large operators. Furthermore, even if the small players will build the network, it will require much more time and financial resources than the deployment of networks by the “big three”, according to MTS, MegaFon and Vimpelcom. 

source:Kommersant (in Russian)