Megafon won the St. Petersburg metro from other operators and will collect tribute from them

The operator "Megafon" has completed work on testing a new network in the St. Petersburg metro. The main purpose of the new antenna-feeder system (ASF), the system, is uninterrupted communication for civil defense and emergency services, ensuring interaction between law enforcement agencies and emergency operational services, representatives of the operator say. In the new network, machinists and dispatchers will be able to communicate via secure communication channels.

The operator did not spare several hundred million rubles for the project. The company had to install base stations, additional equipment and lay the radiating cable in all tunnels.

And most importantly, the network allows Megafon itself to provide communication services and Internet access right in the subway tunnels. Today MegaFon is the only operator providing communication services in the St. Petersburg metro.
')
Reception of applications for connection of operators will begin in the near future. None of the requests will not be left unanswered, we will publish information on technical conditions no later than February 1, 2016 and will begin to accept applications, the operator’s representative promises. “The terms for consideration of applications from operators will depend on the content of requests and on the technical solutions they propose, ” a representative of MegaFon explained to ComNews. “We do not expect any significant failures when connecting to the ASF, provided that third-party operators will strictly comply with the technical conditions,” he added.

Beeline has long enough requested technical conditions for connecting to the MegaFon infrastructure in the metro and has not yet received an official response, the operator’s spokesman said. A similar request in early October sent MTS . In September, Tele2 provided LTE at all metro stations and was interested in ensuring that Tele2’s high-speed mobile Internet is available not only in lobbies, platforms and escalators, but also in the St. Petersburg metro stations, the operator’s representative said.

So far, there are no final agreements with MegaFon operators.

The decision to build a network in the metro by MegaFon was taken in 2009. Then it was assumed that all operators would work on this network. In October 2014, MTS complained to the antimonopoly service that since 2011 Megafon has been using the metro network alone to provide services to its subscribers and does not allow competitors to connect to it.

The representative of “MegaFon” explained the non-admission of competitors by the fact that the network has not yet been commissioned, because the tests have not been completed.

UFAS considered the case for almost a year and in August 2015 recommended to Megafon to put in open access the procedure for filing appeals from a third-party operator to obtain access rights and notify UFAS about the completion of the tests. A spokesman for the FAS told Vedomosti yesterday that a notification from the operator was received.

“Megaphone will inform you additionally about the mode and timing of the start of receiving these statements,” the press release says.

To connect a third-party operator to the unified ASF, Megafon must provide the data necessary to form technical conditions (TU) for connecting the equipment of this operator to the ASF, if necessary - provide the TU metro for placing additional equipment.