Units of Svyazinvest look poised to win the rights to build WiMax high-speed Internet networks in 40 regions, thanks to the terms of tenders scheduled for early next year.
The Federal Mass Media Inspection Service published the terms for four tenders for WiMax licenses in the range of 2.3 gigahertz to 2.4 gigahertz, which will be held from Feb. 18 through March 11. The license for each region will be awarded separately.
The minimum combined investment of the tender winners will be 4.77 billion rubles ($166 million), according to the terms. The actual licenses will cost another 40 million rubles, or 1 million rubles ($34,800) per region. Winning bidders must start service no later than 18 months after a license is received.
Bidders will be able to earn up to 99 points for their offers. But under the terms of the tenders, Svyazinvest may be able to get 40 points immediately, while the three big cell phone operators would lose 40 points.
Under the rules, the service will grant 5 points to companies for every year that they have offered national, regional and local service — for both regular and pay phones — as well as 1 point for data transmission, Internet access and IP telephony. The companies can receive no more than 5 points for each service, meaning that Svyazinvest units — which generally offer all of these services — would start with 40 points.
Additionally, to avoid "the potential monopolization of the mobile Internet access market," the Communications and IT Ministry watchdog will deduct points in certain circumstances. Companies that already have third-generation, or 3G, licenses will lose 20 points, while licenses for mobile broadband Internet access would cost another 20 points.
Mobile TeleSystems, VimpelCom and MegaFon have these licenses, but no Svyazinvest units do.
Svyazinvest first deputy chief Alexander Provotorov promised that the holding's units would decide on whether to participate in the tenders by the end of the year. The terms also have minuses, he said, such as a requirement that the networks be built using domestically produced equipment, which might not be compatible with consumers' current hardware.
Synterra also meets the tender requirements, spokeswoman Yekaterina Andreyeva said. The company has extensive fixed-line infrastructure in 75 regions, licenses for regional and national communications and has been on the market for a number of years.
She said Synterra was interested in virtually all 40 of the regions but it would only participate if it were convinced that there is tested Russian equipment that will meet all of the quality criteria.
Last month, the Communications and IT Ministry identified several domestic companies capable of producing the equipment. Spokespeople for three — Sozvezdiye, Raitek-Inform and Sfinks — told Vedomosti that they would start commercial production in 2010.
VimpelCom and MegaFon have not decided whether to bid, their press offices said. MTS spokeswoman Irina Osadchaya said the company was focused on developing 3G services and so-called Long Term Evolution technologies.
Yelena Lashkina, press secretary for the ministry, said a wide array of IT companies could expect to win in the tenders.
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