In two weeks, the fate of the principle of technological neutrality of cellular communication in Russia will be decided.

Daily business newspaper RBC daily announced after midnight that it had managed to get hold of the agenda of the meeting of the State Radio Frequency Commission (SCRF), scheduled for December 20 (in other words, two weeks later). And on the agenda of that day, among other issues, there is a report by the representative of the FSUE Radio Research Institute (NIIR) "On the progress of work to determine the possibility and conditions for the use of the radio frequency band 1710-1880 MHz by LTE radio electronic means and its subsequent modifications."

From the message of “RBC daily” it appears that FSUE NIIR carries out this work on the request of Tele2, the company most interested in providing companies operating in the 1710-1880 MHz band with the opportunity to use LTE equipment to build their networks. Referring to the source from the SCRF, RBC daily indicates: if the FSUE decides that LTE can be launched at the mentioned frequencies, the State Commission will be ready to resolve this issue positively.

And on behalf of Tele2 in “RBC daily” Alexander Bahorin expressed himself, who expressed this opinion:
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- Using the 1800 MHz band is the most efficient way to build LTE networks. This is confirmed by the data of GSA (GSM Equipment Suppliers Association) and the experience of the world's largest operators, such as Deutsche Telekom, Elisa, StarHub, TeliaSonera and Telstra.

(End of quote.)

I believe that before us is the implementation of precisely those intentions that Dmitry Strashnov (president of Tele2 Russia) announced in early November in an interview with Kommersant.

And Tele2’s clear interest in this issue should not obscure from us, of course, the realization that customers of a number of other Russian cellular operators will also be happy with LTE in a European manner, if they succeed in achieving the desired in SCRF.