Alexander Izosimov

The chief executive of second-placed Russian carrier VimpelCom, Alexander Izosimov, is to step down at the end of June. Izosimov will be leaving on a high, having engineered the somewhat controversial merger with Orascom Telecom parent Weather, which created the world’s fifth largest mobile carrier.

A statement points out that Izosimov’s tenure as CEO started in 2003 but neglects to mention the 13 months or so when ex-Telekom Austria chief Boris Nemsic took the helm between April 2009 and June 2010. Nemsic evacuated his post rather abruptly, amid suggestions he hadn’t been planning his resignation, as the firm reorganised itself into four new business units; Russia, Ukraine, CIS and International and Izosimov took up captaincy once again.

In this instance, current chairman, Jo Lunder, has been elected as the new CEO of VimpelCom, taking over from Izosimov at the end of June.

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Mobile operators are moving to IP backhaul to deal with explosive growth in data traffic

Russia’s mobile operators are moving to IP backhaul to deal with explosive growth in data traffic. Leading Russian carrier MTS (Mobile TeleSystems) said this week that it is expecting 86 per cent growth in Russian data traffic by 2015, forcing a strategic focus on network transport.

According to MTS, an upgrade to Ethernet and IP as a backhaul carrier is the best way the operator can maintain service quality going forward. MTS has partnered with Tellabs and local telecom solutions provider Intracom Svyaz to undertake this upgrade.

In a double win for Tellabs, smaller Russian player MegaFon is also planning to build a countrywide IP mobile backhaul network with the aim of reducing costs, increasing network capacity and ensuring a smooth migration from legacy technology to an all-IP transport platform. In this case Nokia Siemens Networks will be performing the systems integration.

“We aim to build a unified mobile backhaul to facilitate faster rollout of 3G services such as HSPA and prepare a converged IP transport network for fixed and mobile services for millions of people in Russia,” said Valery Ermakov, chief operations officer at MegaFon. “This will help us keep pace with the exponential increase in the data traffic while significantly reducing our capital costs.”

Feature: Many operators are pushing core capabilities out to the network edge

Telecoms.com recently looked at how operators have moved on from addressing shortcomings in their radio access networks, which are being relentlessly battered by the demands of smartphones and tablets, with network congestion is moving ever closer to the core, where it becomes increasingly expensive to manage. The consensus is that the best strategy is to deal with the tidal wave of data moving towards the core before it even gets there, by keeping it as close to the network edge as possible. According to the industry pundits spoken to for this feature, operators worldwide are rethinking their network topology, especially with regard to the design and implementation of the last mile.

MTS, VimpelCom (Beeline), Megafon and Rostelekom will use Yota's network

Russian network operator Yota has turned its fortunes around, having initially backed WiMAX, then switching to LTE. This week the company signed a deal with the country’s leading players, to act as the network provider for LTE services in over 180 cities with a total population of more than 70 million citizens.

The company, which has always preferred to describe itself as a mobile broadband provider, changed tack from WiMAX to LTE late last year. Yota claims to provide 4G (LTE and WIMAX) services to more than 700,000 customers across five cities in Russia: Moscow, St Petersburg, Sochi, Krasnodar and Ufa.

Under Thursday’s agreement, the country’s major network operators –MTS, VimpelCom (Beeline), Megafon and Rostelekom, will see Yota become their 4G network provider and guarantee the roll out of its LTE network over 180 cities with a total population of more than 70 million citizens by 2014.

The deal provides each of the operator participants with an option to buy shares in Yota in 2014.

Commenting on the company’s position, Yota CEO Dennis Sverdlov said: “We firmly believe in the separation of network ownership and service provision and believe that this ground-breaking agreement will drive innovation and benefit Russian consumers.”

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Ovum analyst Angel Dobardziev, said of the deal: “This is another step towards ever-broader and deeper network sharing among operators that is increasingly gaining traction. This announcement also suggests that Russian mobile operator choice is limited. Unlike in the US, this deal suggests that MTS and others may not be willing, or are unable to roll out their own LTE networks in the short term. Significantly, the Russian government has an indirect stake in Yota, and there is a state entity on hand in this deal to ‘ensure an efficient and collaborative approach’. Therefore, the long term market structure in Russia is set to shift on a dramatically different path, with Yota and the Russian state taking centre stage.”

The deployment of the 40 Gb IP/MPLS backbone network will allow MegaFon to optimize the existing core network and extend the service range of its subscribers with 3G data services.