Page 15 - bne_Tech_10_2020

Telecom
October 2020 www.intellinews.com I Page 15
Russia to finance domestic 5G equipment development, localisation set at 40%
The government plans to spend RUB21.4bn ($0.27bn) on supporting the development of domestic 5G equipment, Vedomosti daily reported on October 6 citing unnamed official and telecom sources.
Reportedly, the funding would be channelled to Rostec state technology agency, which has already set up the Telecom Technologies (TT) consortium together with Rostelecom state telecom major, private AFK Sistema multi-industry conglomerate and another companies.
As analysed by bne IntelliNews, the introduction of the 5G network has been impeded by a lack of clear policy, decisions on framework frequency allocation, roll-out strategy and the lack of co- operation both within and with the private sector.
Notably, sources told Vedomosti that "domestic" 5G equipment will have quite a low threshold of localisation – it will be considered domestically produced at 40% localisation degree. To compare, another large-scale engineering project of gas
turbines for electricity generation capacities sets localisation requirements at 90%.
Analysts and industry players surveyed by Vedomosti see the 40% localisation level as reasonable; however, the methodology of accounting for different components remains unclear.
However, the amount of the subsidies reportedly reserved by the government is seen as insufficient. Leading global players in the 5G equipment segment are seen spending about $2bn annually on R&D.
The horizon for reliable Russian equipment for 5G rollout is still seen at 5 years at least by the analysts, while the issue of frequency allocation remains unresolved.
The 24.25-24.5Hz frequency range is the only range available for 5G networks at the moment. The Kremlin chose unpopular frequencies for its 5G roll-out to drive home-made infrastructure development and could enforce the use of domestically produced servers only.
Ukraine's Kyivstar launches testing of business interaction platform
Ukrainian mobile phone operator Kyivstar has launched the beta testing of the Kyivstar Open Telecom (KOT) project for testing API products based on mock data, the company said on October 12.
"In Kyivstar we have 25.4mn subscribers, 4mn website users per month, 514 stores, 300 terabytes of data per day, and we are trying to become more and more open every day, so we launch the Kyivstar Open Telecom project," the