Business news

MINSK, 26 October (BelTA) – The Belarusian telecommunication infrastructure operator beCloud and the Croatian company Ericsson Nikola Tesla have signed a contract on buying equipment and developing the LTE Advanced cellular communication network in regions of Belarus. The project will be implemented by the end of 2017, beCloud’s press service told BelTA.

The equipment will be used to roll out the LTE network in Gomel, Brest, and Mogilev. As part of the contract Ericsson Nikola Tesla Company will also design the network, install and commission the equipment. The contract will take care of the second phase of the project to build a nationwide 4G network in Belarus in addition to renewing the software and providing the relevant services.

BeCloud Director General Sergei Poblaguyev noted: “Ericsson Company is our strategic partner in implementing the largest innovative projects in Belarus. In the last 12 months beCloud introduced multiple solutions unparalleled on the market in Belarus. The success of many of them would have been impossible without partnership with Ericsson Nikola Tesla Company. We aim for long-term relations. LTE popularity is growing in Minsk, this is why launching the fourth-generation network in the oblast capitals and the regions is a timely move.”

The construction of the LTE network in regions of Belarus will open up new opportunities for mobile communication subscribers and will become an important step in the technological development of mobile communication networks. At present there are over 100,000 subscribers that enjoy 4G services and the number continues growing. In December 2015 LTE technology was made available for subscribers of the Belarusian mobile carrier MTS. In summer 2016 the technology was made available for the mobile carrier life:).

At present the operation of the LTE Advanced network in Belarus relies on 150 base stations that cover a significant part of Minsk well. By the end of the year the technology will be made available in Brest, Vitebsk, Gomel, Grodno, and Mogilev. The technology will be introduced in district capitals and other populated localities with the population of at least 50,000 people by the end of 2018.