A leading Russian telecom operating under the Yota brand, Scartel, will launch 4G LTE network in Moscow on April 15, 2012, CEO Denis Sverdlov told journalists.

Investment in the project will total $60m.

“On April 14 existing WiMAX network will be switched off causing Internet connection interruption, and after that new network and new devices will be put into operation,” Mr. Sverdlov explained. The switching process is excepted to take up to three hours.

Mr. Sverdlov promised that the new 4G network would make Internet access cheaper and faster if compared to WiMAX technology.

Scartel currently owns 1,500 base stations in Moscow. Under plans, by the end of this year the company will expand coverage and grow the number of stations by 1.5 times in Moscow city and ten times in Moscow region. The operator also intends to use Rostelecom and MegaFon facilities in Moscow city and region for installing base stations, as has been agreed earlier.

Early this year Scartel launched LTE in Novosibirsk. The operator also provides WiMax services in St. Petersburg, Ufa, Krasnodar and Sochi. 4G network will be launched in these cities by September 2012. Total cost of switching to LTE is expected to reach $100m, the firm said.

Scartel is not the only privileged player in Moscow battlefield. Mobile operators MTS and Megafon also have LTE-frequencies and licenses in Moscow region and plan to launch LTE network in Moscow in the nearest future once they receive approvals from the Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications (ROSKOMNADZOR).

Sources: Digit.ru, EWDN, Vedomosti