Tele2 connects 380,000 subscribers in first 20 days of operations in Moscow
MOSCOW. Nov 11 (Interfax) - T2 RTK Holding LLC (the Tele2 brand) connected some 380,000 subscribers in the first 20 days of its operations in the city of Moscow and the surrounding Moscow region, said Larisa Tkachuk, the senior vice president for business management at Rostelecom , which owns a 45% stake in Tele2.
Tele2 began commercial operation of its network in Moscow on October 22. It connected 150,000 subscribers in the first week (up to October 29).
Tele2 has 400 monobrand shops in the region and also sells contracts at 10,000 partner locations, including Euroset, Svyaznoy, Russian Post and Pyaterochka stores.
Tele2 had amassed about 30,000 subscribers prior to the startup of its service in the capital city region.
The company operates about 5,000 3G base stations and about 2,000 LTE base stations operating in the 800 MHz, 2.1 GHz and 2.6 GHz frequency bands. Rossvyaz has assigned Tele2 7.5 million numbers (977 exchange) in the Moscow area.
Tele2 expects to achieve 100% coverage in the region by the end of 2016, when it will be accessible throughout the Moscow Metro. Currently, Tele2's network is only accessible in nine metro stations.
Tele2 does not have any GSM frequencies in Moscow and so cannot offer voice services to users of traditional push-button handsets, which account for over 40% of the phones in use in the capital city region. Penetration in the Moscow area is currently about 65% for 3G devices and 14% for LTE devices.