MTS Novosibirsk Launches 3G

Yesterday I was at an MTS presentation of 3G in Novosibirsk. The general impression is positive.

MTS invited business clients to talk about 3G and business services offered by MTS.

There were a lot of decorations, beautiful girls, and entertainment. Yes, and food was great.

First about 3G.

I have not had any experience with 3G prior to this evening. I read a little, but didn’t bother to study it because I thought it is too far away from my reality. Well, I was wrong. MTS is planning to have 100 base stations by the end of THIS year rolled out in Novosibirsk. As of now, 3G is operational in the very center. By the end of the year it should be in Akademgorodok and elsewhere in the city’s center. Andrei Kozlov was a very knowledgeable MTS specialist who was patient enough to answer all my questions.

Back to the experience. 3G is great. As I understand it is pretty much defined by the speed at which data can be transferred to and from the Internet (up to 3.6 mpbs). In other words, we are talking about new services — the most famous being video-calls — and fast (almost cable) Internet. Cool. The only bummer is the price which didn’t change, thus you will be parting with your money times faster than usual. On the other hand, if not many people are using the service, you can indeed experience cable speeds.

Second. Other MTS services… well, they are just not too hot. They may be in a greater demand with the roll-out of 3G though, that’s for sure. I liked the FMC where corporate telephone network can be integrated with the MTS cellular network.

There was one non-Russian speaker representing (along with a Russian speaker) RIM and Blackberry technology. I have doubts there will be much uptake of this service once 3G and iPhone are launched, but some ex-pats may find the service worth replicating, especially if they talk to their overseas headquarters who are used to the service. Good luck!

Here are some photos from the event (first video-call, some presenters, general setup).