COMNEWS draws up the results of LTE Russia & CIS 2013

In the end of May, Holiday Inn Lesnaya hotel became a venue of a two-day 5th international forum LTE Russia & CIS 2013, organized by ComNews Conferences in partnership with 3GPP and GSMA. The event was endorsed by the LTE Union, Association of Regional Telecom Operators (ARTO), Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), International Academy of Communications and Russian Association for Electronic Communications (RAEC). Huawei was Platinum Sponsor of the forum, Qualcomm – Silver Sponsor, Ericcson, Concept Technologies, Telenor Group and Alcatel-Lucent – Bronze Sponsors. Session Sponsors included 2test, JDSU, ADV Consulting, Ranberry, and Gigamon.

The first session dedicated to LTE networks in Russia was kicked off by Deputy Head of Federal Communications Agency Igor Chursin. He emphasized that the authority he represents is committed to provide equal access to ICT services to the citizens of Russia and expand broadband technologies over the entire country. “In collaboration with the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media we are currently working on a regulatory framework which will support the advancement of LTE standard in Russia”, said Chursin. Head of 3GPP Mobile Competence Centre Adrian Scrase spoke about effective organization of cooperation with regional and international associations and organizations in the field of standards. President of GSA Alan Hadden offered the gathering an overview of latest changes in the LTE market. President of ARTO Yury Dombrovsky made a speech about evolution of LTE networks in Russia. He was followed by Huawei’s Deputy Director of Network Core Equipment in Russia who expanded on the strategies for LTE networks. Chief of Lab at Radio Research and Development Institute Vadim Poskakukhin shared some insights on the international experience related to the principle of technological neutrality and its prospects in Russia. Dmitry Rutenberg, Head of Transport and Telecommunications Control at Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service spoke about the ways to ensure competitive access to the market of LTE services.

The second session of the forum was dedicated to radio frequency resource for 4G networks. The topic of spectrum conversion for the needs of LTE networks was covered by Executive Director of LTE Union Gulnara Khasianova, and then taken up by Head of R&D unit at Russian Ministry of Defence Vyatcheslav Vysochin. ETSI’s Technical Director for Standardization Projects Igor Minaev explored standardization of the 700 MHz band in Europe. Senior analyst at the GSM Association Andrey Voltornist spoke about the changing landscape of frequency spectrum. An expert from MTS and Head of task team for 'Electro-magnetic compatibility of telecom networks and systems', IT and telecom department of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Vasily Skrynnikov delivered an overview of new approaches to electro-magnetic compatibility of LTE networks with other radio electronic equipment used in Russia. Vitaly Shub, Adviser to TTK President, spoke about competitive power of LTE/LTE-Advanced networks in mobile and wired broadband services.  

The third session was dedicated to strategies and business models for LTE network roll-out. Head of Business Development Unit, Mobile Broadband Department at Ericsson Northern Europe and Central Asia Artem Kuznetsov shared some insights on how to achieve the best network performance and boost capacity when rolling out LTE networks. Senior Program Manager at Qualcomm ESG Denis Popov delivered an overview of the advantages of LTE Advanced standard.

The topic of building and operating LTE networks was in the spotlight of the fourth session of the Forum. Deputy CEO for Innovative Technologies of IComInvest Valery Tikhvinsky exposed the outlook for TD-LTE networks in Russia. Technical innovations in Yota network were outlined by VP – CTO of Scartel Konstantin Yurganov. Telenor Norway Director of Coverage Bjørn Amundsen spoke about mobile network coverage from the client’s perspective. The report made by Head of Core Network of MegaFon Moscow Andrey Bessonov was dedicated to voice services over LTE in Russia. Kimmo Aaltonen from Wireless department of EXPO Inc. covered the solutions designed to improve network performance.

The first day of the Forum concluded with a panel discussion “LTE ecosystem in Russia”, which brought together experts from Scartel, MTS, LTE Union, IComInvest and Intel.

The second day started from a session dedicated to transport infrastructure for 4G networks. CTO of North-West branch of ADV Consulting Stanislav Shatov spoke about modernization of mobile operator’s infrastructure for the needs of new generation networks. Infrastructure quality control in 4G networks was also in the spotlight of the report delivered by Danila Gubankov, CTO of 2test. Dmitry Konarev, Huawei Russia’s Deputy Sales Director, Wireless Equipment, spoke about Backhaul based on LTE TDD. Mikhail Glinka, senior specialist of information and research department at RSCC, spoke about satellite-based Mobile Backhaul for 3G and 4G networks. Artem Kirillov, Engineer-consultant at Gigamon, shared practical experience of building monitoring infrastructure in 3G and 4G networks using traffic replication solutions.

The sixth session was dedicated to services in new generation mobile broadband networks. Comset’s Director of Certification and Deputy Chairman of CCF Sergey Melnik spoke about technical facilities required for special investigative activities in the LTE networks. Head of Wireless department at J'son & Partners Consulting Vitaly Solonin outlined global and Russian practices of pricing in LTE networks. The report from Sergey Mukhantsev, Alcatel Lucent’s Business Development Manager Russia and CIS was dedicated to heterogeneous mobile networks. Dmitry Kazantsev, Sales Director for System Solutions at JDSU, shared some insights on controlling quality of LTE systems. Ranberry’s CEO Pavel Boyko looked into the prospects for LTE picocells.

The session following lunch was focused on access devices for mobile broadband networks. Editor-in-Chief of Mobile-review.com Eldar Murtazin spoke about a range of problems related to LTE terminals. Qualcomm chipset-based LTE terminals were in the spotlight of the presentation delivered by Leading manager at Qualcomm’s Technical Marketing Department Sergey Karmanenko.  Dmitry Kutyavin, Carrier Relations Manager at Samsung Electronics Rus, spoke about the outlook for 4G user equipment. Sergey Ezyk, Head of Windows Phone at Microsoft Russia outlined the main trends in the smartphone industry in 2013.

LTE Russia & CIS 2013 ended with an open discussion “Subscriber devices for LTE networks: What can users expect?” which brought together manufacturers of user equipment, chipsets and mobile operating systems.

The Forum was attended by more than 250 delegates from all around the world. LTE Russia & CIS 2013 also presented an exhibition of solutions for LTE networks.  Participants of the event expressed a high opinion of the event organization, relevance of topics, high profile of speakers and unique networking opportunities.