Mobile TeleSystems PJSC (NYSE: MBT; MOEX: MTSS), one of Russia’s largest mobile operators and a provider of media and digital services, announced the opening of a 5G Hub in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The 5G Hub will be a global platform for development and piloting of innovative products for next generation networks. The hub residents will have access to 5G network for testing and piloting their solutions. They will receive consultations from MTS experts and the hub’s partners. The most successful solutions will receive grants and an opportunity to work with MTS and global companies.
The Hub is based at the Lenpoligrafmash technopark, where all hub’s residents will get working spaces and necessary testing equipment. The most successful solutions will receive grants of up to 500,000 rubles (US$6,485) and will be piloted in 2021.
Ericsson is technology partner of the MTS 5G Hub. This partnership enables MTS to become the first operator in Russia that launched 5G SA (Standalone) network. The network doesn’t use the infrastructure of previous generation networks, which provides better network characteristics compared to NSA 5G (Non-Standalone) architecture.
Vyacheslav Nikolaev, president of MTS, said: “forecasts and the first 5G developments show that 5G networks enable technological breakthrough in industrial automation, smart cities, and digitalization of all parts of our life – from healthcare to traffic management. And the sooner 5G-based solutions are launched in existing networks and products, the sooner we will get a noticeable social and economic effect from their implementation. Therefore, we are launching more and more pilot 5G zones and are happy to open them to developers from Russia and other countries, so that our country can independently develop advanced technologies associated with 5G networks. Powerful research centres are concentrated in St. Petersburg, and MTS successfully cooperates with them. The Northern capital has become the second point on the map of Russia, where we are opening the 5G Hub.”
Sebastian Tolstoy, Head of Ericsson Russia, says: “MTS 5G hub launch is an important milestone in the development of ITC ecosystem in Russia. LTE networks formed a solid platform for successful telecommunication and IT sectors, advanced mobile banking and successful digital ecosystems, such as MTS. 5G technology opens up completely new opportunities for development of applications that improve quality of people’s life and enable digital transformation of all economic sectors. Now there are more than 220 million 5G connections around the world. We hope that the spectrum availability issues in Russia will be solved soon allowing the services and applications created in the 5G Hub become publicly available.”
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