VimpelCom asked to extend permission to lease foreign satellites – RBC

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VimpelCom asked SCRF to extend permission to lease capacities on foreign satellites

VimpelCom is asking the authorities to extend permission to use foreign satellites through which the company organizes separate communication channels from 2017. The question may be relevant for other operators as well.

Photo: Natalia Seliverstova / RIA Novosti

At the next meeting, scheduled for January 31, the State Commission for Radio Frequencies (SCRF, the main body that deals with the distribution of frequencies in Russia) was supposed to consider an application to extend the permit for several radio frequency bands for organizing satellite communications using 32 foreign satellites, three sources told RBC familiar with the commission’s plans.

The state commission gave this permission in July 2017 for a period of five years. It was generalized, that is, it did not concern any particular company, however, initially, the largest cellular companies turned to the commission with a request to allow them to rent containers on foreign boards, one of RBC’s interlocutors said. “It was necessary for the organization of trunk channels in conditions when the national satellite operators FSUE Kosmicheskaya Svyaz (GPKS) and Gazprom Space Systems (GKS) had problems with satellites,” he explained.

According to him, VimpelCom (Beeline brand) has now asked to extend the decision. A company representative confirmed the submission of the application, explaining that VimpelCom has not yet completed the transition to using only domestic satellites. According to him, the operator still has separate satellite channels that operate through foreign satellites using SCPC technology (Single Channel Per Carrier – a technology for connecting two satellite earth stations to each other, in which each of the stations is assigned frequency bands for transmission and reception data). “We believe that the extension of this decision will benefit all operators who use satellite communications. Currently, Russian satellites are not provided with an additional reserve, and in the event of a failure of one of them, the risks of a loss of communication are high. Having a permit to work via a foreign satellite will help to avoid such a development of events,” said a representative of VimpelCom.

On Thursday, January 13, Izvestia reported that the SCRF plans to consider extending the permission to use frequencies for organizing a satellite channel using foreign devices. According to this publication, the Federal Security Service (FSB) issued a negative opinion on this issue (the department did not officially present its position).

RBC’s interlocutor, who is familiar with the plans of the SCRF, says that a number of departments really opposed the extension of the 2017 permit, but during preliminary discussions it was decided to create a working group to find a compromise. At the next meeting, the SCRF plans to make an appropriate protocol entry in the draft decision.

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