MTS Lodges Complaint
Published: September 14, 2011 (Issue # 1674)
MOSCOW — The shuffling of frequencies necessary to create a nationwide 4G network, outlined in plans approved by the Communications and Press Ministry on Thursday, will cost MTS its 70,000 WiMAX subscribers.
In a letter to Igor Artemev of the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service, MTS President Andrei Dubovskov expressed his dissatisfaction that rival providers will benefit by poaching MTS customers, who will be forced to find an alternative wireless Internet provider, Vedomosti reported.
As a result of last Thursday’s decision, MTS is obliged to surrender its WiMAX frequencies in Moscow and the Moscow region by Sept. 1, 2012, before it will be assigned new frequencies needed to build a 4G network. MTS’s WiMAX network, in which the company invested 1.5 billion rubles ($51 million) so far, was only set up in 2009.
Dubovskov accused the Communications and Press Ministry of abusing its power and has requested the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service to block the decision. He claimed that the ministry’s resolution restricts competition discriminates against MTS.
According to Vedomosti, Deputy Communications and Press Minister Naum Marder rejected Dubovskov’s complaints, saying he believed that the current plans are fair.