<span style='font-size:13pt;line-height:100%'>Belarus? 3rd GSM operator to launch its network on Wednesday</span>

http://www.best.by/img/ru/logo.gif

MOSCOW, Dec 19 (Prime-Tass) -- A third Belarusian GSM mobile operator plans to launch its network into commercial operation Wednesday, the company?s representative said Monday.

State-controlled Belarus Telecommunications Network, or BeST, started a trial operation of the network in October.

BeST was registered on November 5, 2004 and received a license to provide communication services in Belarus on March 24, 2005.

BeST was set up by Belarus? state-controlled fixed-line monopoly Beltelecom, which controls 25% in the company, and state-owned company Agat, which controls 75%.

Earlier in October BeST said that it plans to attract 500,000-600,000 subscribers by the end of 2006.

The aggregated subscriber base of Belarus' mobile operators has increased 48.4% since the beginning of the year to 3.605 million users as of October 1, Belarus' Communications Minister Vladimir Goncharenko said in October.

Presently there are three mobile operators in Belarus besides BeST. These Belarus' largest GSM operator, Belarusian-Russian joint venture Mobile TeleSystems, or MTS Bealrus, and Belarus' first GSM operator Mobile Digital Communications, or MDC, which provides its services under the Velcom brand. The country's first ever mobile operator Belarusian-British joint venture BelCel operates NMT450i and IMT-MC-450 networks.

I took a look at their site, which is quite horrible by the way (as their logo, very old Soviet style :P), but it seems they don't have a prepaid offer, but just one tariff, plus one for veterans of the Red Army (:blink:) and so on... Maybe Asick can look better, since my knowledge of Russian and Belarussian is quite limited! :D

The discount tariff is in fact for RA veterans (not only WW2 but also all participants of war abroad - this should include veterans of Hungary 1956, Czechoslovakia 1968, Afganistan 1979-1989 and possibly some other "peacekeeping" missions), but also for prisoners of war (but only WW2 in this case) and persons handicapped in any circumastances :). This tariff is available also for Russian citizen living in Belarus.

It seems that this is a very basic offer: only national voice calls and SMS.
I can see no international calls, roaming, voice mail, data/fax calls, MMS.

All rates are VAT-exlcuded.

Tomorrow I can ask a colleague of mine (who is from Belarus) if he knows something more about this network.

It's quite a strange operator, owned by the State... in all countries the old State-owned operators were monopolists and then sold to privates, while in Belarus the new operator is State-owned... that's really a strange country, but it doesn't surprise me looking at their "democratic" president! :D

This is very cranky operator, the strangest one I've ever seen in the European exUSSR. You are absolutely right, it looks as if it was really Soviet, and it's not any strange. Belorussian state owned companies keep working as they did 20 years ago, keeping the same traditions etc. Their Льготный (privileged) tariff is supposed to be a sort of social aid, but it looks strange anyway. Look, it just has lower SIM activation fee and cheaper calls to BeST numbers (30 minutes a month only). It has no other advantages, but it has no SMS service (just incoming SMS are available), no call waiting and similar services, no outgoing international calls ( :wacko: ) etc. A subscriber of Льготный tariff will have to prove his priviledged status every year to be able to keep using this tariff. Also, their Base tariff seems to have only national SMS exchange (look at the remark "Исходящее SMS абонентам других сетей сотовой связи РБ", it means "Outgoing SMS to other Belorussian networks subscribers, foreign SMS are not noticed at all). So, this is how their government does imagine an ideal cellular operator, I guess. :D

??! ??! Very true comrad! :thumbup:

I don't mind their priviledged tariffs - I think they are good - at least you are getting people on the bottom of the social ladder a chance to move up in some aspects (they do the same here in the states, except you need to put a security deposit before you can get service). I find the no international SMS and no international calls kind of weird - especially for travellers.

So, you want to say that if the USSR still existed, the only possible Soviet GSM operator might be similar to Best :)?
But, if we considered eastern part of Moldova (Transnistria) as a separate country, this could be even weirder than Belarus: only one CDMA opertator and mp GSM ones (completed phrase :) )

In Poland war veterans and some handicapped persons can get discounts for monthly fees in Polish Telecom. It used to be possible also from other operators (both landline and mobile) but it leaded to many abuses, especailly about mobile plans. Very often, mobile phones with discount plans were officaly registered for eligible persons, but in fact they were used by their healthy and wealthy children, grandchildren or cousins :). However, those discounts were never connected with restrictions/unavalaibility of any services.
After all, now such discounts are not really necessary because regular GSM tariffs are pretty low. Landline operators offer "social" plans (but available to everyone) instead with low monthly fee but higher call rates.

:)

Exactly! :D However, I'm not sure there would be a fully functional GSM operator at all. I guess the Soviet economy had no chances in producing hi-tech devices, so they would need to import foreign cellular phones, but Soviet government always avoided import of consumer electronics etc., just few arrived here via partially unofficial channels and were sold on black markets. I guess there would be the only network that would cover only Moscow and Leningrad city centers accessible only for roamers and communist party bosses. :lol: Or, they would make people using huge and heavy Soviet GSM phones, capable of calling and receiving calls only with no screens on them. :lol:

You didn't end your phrase about Transdnistria, what's about operators there? Actually, this stripe of land is much more USSR than Belarus, people say it often looks as time stands still there. :sad: However, it's not a real country with 10 millions of people, such as Belarus.

You know, Russian landline monopolists usually provide some discounts for veterans and invalids too. However, these monopolists do not really work in the cellular business (in most regions, at least), so the cellular market here is completely private, with no state interventions and state methods of tariff constructing, so I've never heard here about any discounts for veterans on GSM tariffs. And, GSM is not expensive here too, veterans have higher pensions and grants than the others, so they often can afford a normal unprivileged tariff.

What about weapons :)?

Quite possible. After all, there's a GSM network in Cuba and even in North Korea :).

:poster_oops: - just corrected it - I meant no "native" GSM network is there (although the area is probably covered by Moldovan networks).

Transnistria is not a country in this sense that it isn't recognised by any other country, but de facto it is a country with its own president, government, parliament, currency and border controls.

The discounts in Poland were forced by telecommunication law. AFAIK those discounts are now obligatory for so-called "dominant operators" only i.e. the ones that have at least 40% share in the market. In the mobile market it's almost impossible so that such a situation would happen since there are 3 moreless equivalent operators, and the fourth one with licence valid from June 2006. But on the landline market Polish Telecom will always be dominant (about 90% now).

Well, weapons/rockets/space etc. is another story. This sector was intensively supported, the best scientists and developers worked there, so it was OK. :) Anyway, looking at 80s, you may found that the most Soviet complicated electronics sold in shops were either good but a sort of monster things (design, size etc.) or just copies of foreign models (yeah, step-by-step taken copies, such as some Soviet VCRs, audio cassette recorders etc.). It's known there were Soviet i8086 and i80286 clones, but they had stuck with i80386. :) So, seriously, I guess they would be able to construct their own Soviet GSM phone, but it would be not that convenient to use and it would contain many copied content (from cloned chips upto firmware). :P Nevertheless, this had no chance to happen, although I've heard Ukrainians (may be Belorussians, I'm not sure) recently made their own GSM phone from start to end, which is way too big, looking as a phone from late 90s. :whistle: Well, what a funny topic. :D

Do you know something specific about the North Korean GSM network? It looks to be very weird. It has no roaming agreements and I'm afraid there are just a few BTS covering the places where their leader used to be. :lol: Cuba is not such a close country with more relaxed life and it's visited by many foreign tourists, so fully functional GSM network is quite needed there, and it does exist. I find it expectable.

I guess Transdnistria people can use both Moldovan and Ukrainian coverage, but it seems to be reasonable only for innernetwork calls, while calls to Transdnistria landlines are probably expensive. Anyway, Transdnistria is not blocked from outside, so it's not a problem to get scratch cards and so on. I'll look for more real info on that topic, since it's quite interesting.

I guess Russian telecommunication law contains the same stuff (sort of partial state tariff regulation) only for landline monopolists, which keep 90% or more of landlines under their control, it's the same as in Poland. Now here are usually 3 or more cellular operators sharing the market equally, but they didn't have to make any discounts for anybody when they were alone in a region (in 90s, for example).

I heard about such Ukrainian "invention" - cheap GSM phone w/o any display, but I considered it as a kind of April Fool's Day joke. But I wouldn't be surprised if Belarussian authorithies (perhaps Aleksandr Grigorievich himself :) ) were told their electronic industry to create a national model of a GSM phone :D.

I read once in a newspaper that this network has about 20 000 users, none of them private. And the Beloved Leader doesn't need a mobile phone - AFAIK he has a high speed satellite internet link in his train. Moreover, I suppose he has one or more satellite phones :P.

That's right - the Cuban economy is still so "communist" that IMHO without large number of incoming tourists they wouldn't afford such a "luxury" :P

Right, but I think that we should close that thread but it went too far from Belarus :)

No problem, you can go on, maybe we can then split the thread in 2 parts, depending on which subject will become prevalent! :) And I'm a great fan of Aleksandr Grigorievich (:lol:), so I'm very interested in your discussion! :)

<span style='font-size:11pt;line-height:100%'>Belarus? BeST attracts more users, targets low-end users</span>

MINSK, Jan 11 (Prime-Tass) -- State-controlled Belarus Telecommunications Network, or BeST, which started commercial operations in the capital city of Minsk on December 21, 2005, attracted its first 1,000 subscribers through its program that envisages preferential tariffs for some categories of subscribers, Sergei Poblaguyev, the company's deputy general director, told a press conference Wednesday.

The total number of BeST's subscribers stands below 2,000 people as of now, Poblaguyev said.

Subscribers under 33 make up 80% of total subscribers attracted through the program, which will continue until February 15, Poblaguyev said.

Currently BeST has a switchboard center with a capacity of 150,000 numbers, which can be increased to 3 million, and over 30 base stations in Minsk, Poblaguyev said.

Other mobile operators in Belarus, in addition to BeST, include two GSM operators, Mobile Digital Communications and Belarusian-Russian joint venture Mobile TeleSystems, or MTS Belarus, and BelCel, which operates in NMT450 and IMT-MC-450 standards.

Belarus state-owned company Agat holds 75% stake in BeST, while state-controlled fixed-line monopoly Beltelecom holds 25% stake in the company.

Today I talked to my Belarusian-origin colleague about BeST. First, he had no idea what I meant. But when I showed him the website, he shouted "Now I know, it's Lukashenko's network" :D. He told that with its poor coverage, services and tariffs nobody takes this network seriously. Moreover, he confirmed that it was seriously considered that this company would Belarussian-made phones with SIM permanently stuck inside :lol: . Happily, at least this brilliant idea didn't come true :whistle:

http://www.axisglobe.com/Image/2005/...rus/lukash.jpg

You enemy of the State of Belarus!!!
don't say false things! BeST is having and incredible success, it already has 90% of the Belarussian mobile customers and after the elections it will have 100% for sure, the people are with the President!

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Oh, what a crazy idea! The next step would be a phone permanently locked to a single BTS. :lol: I'm really obsessed with the level of marasmus there. Luckily, they could understand it and started a sort of strange but still generally normal GSM operator.

Effendi, you get the point! :lol: I wish you were able to understand his speeches, so you'd laugh much more. :P

Crazy? I heard that in USA there are such GSM phones, with "permament" SIMs...Could anyway confirm/deny?

As to locking to the BTS - in Poland there are two landline operators which use wireless technology with landline numbering. These are: Sferia (CDMA) in Warsaw, and Polish Telecom (NMT) on rural areas. Because phones connected in those networks are considered "fixed", their users are told that they can't go outside coverage of their "native" towers. But the reality is different - they usually work in the entire service area. But if they didn't, nobody could complain after all they "fixed" networks only... :)

What language does he speak? I heard him "in original" a few times and had impression that it wasn't Russian I had learnt at school :unsure:

We have something not so different from that here in Italy too... and with the newest operator, the 3rd Generation one: almost all 3's bundle kits with an u-sim and a phone are "sim-locked", not in the way it's intended in the UK, USA or other countries (i.e. you can use only the sim of that operator), but in a more strict way: you can use that phone with that u-sim only! That's for 1 year, from the 13th month you can use also other 3 u-sim, but not other operator's.

I know in the USA there are a couple of MVNOs which have something maybe even worse, Trafcone and Net10: you can use their simcard on their phones only, it doesn't work on other models...

And just to write something slightly IT: does my friend Alexander speak in Belarussian on his speeches? I think he speaks Russian, also his wonderful website is in RU and EN, not in BY like his opponent's...

Przemolog, we had (or may be still have in some regions) the same situation with CDMA-800 band here in Russia. It was called 'the band licensed for the fixed telephony service', so CDMA-800 phones were expected to be locked to a single BTS. Were expected but not always were, though. :P Also, there was a 'rural street phone' service provided by the NMT operator (Delta Telecom), they placed some Nokia-10 (or may be 11 or 12, I'm not sure, I mean the fixed NMT cellphone and I don't remember the exact model number) and used them as public street phones. They were locked to their BTSes too, AFAIK. Anyway, this is not as crazy as locking GSM phones, I guess. NMT didn't use SIMs and so on, so it was initially more 'fixed'.

Lukashenko speaks Russian wherever he talks, AFAIK. I'm not perfectly sure, but I saw him speaking only Russian even when I was watching the state TV channel in Belarus (I've been to Belarus a few times). I've never heard him speaking Belarussian. His Russian is a bit funny (he has a sort of Belarussian accent/dialect, he pronounces some sounds specifically and his speech has some funny intonations), but it's still Russian that I easily understand. I can understand most of the Belarussian too, but it sounds to me as a very distorted and funny language, which is surely not Russian. :)

<span style='font-size:13pt;line-height:100%'>Belarusian GSM operator BeST user base at 2,000 as of Feb 1</span>

MINSK, Feb 3 (Prime-Tass) -- The subscriber base of state-controlled Belarus Telecommunications Network, or BeST, which started commercial operations in the capital city of Minsk on December 21, 2005, amounted to 2,000 users as of February 1, the company said late on Thursday.

Currently BeST has a switchboard center with a capacity of 150,000 numbers, which can be increased to 3 million, and over 30 base stations in Minsk.

Other mobile operators in Belarus, in addition to BeST, include two GSM operators, Mobile Digital Communications and Belarusian-Russian joint venture Mobile TeleSystems, or MTS Belarus, and BelCel, which operates in NMT450 and CDMA-450 standards.

As of February 1, the total amount of mobile subscribers in Belarus stood at 4.230 million users.

Belarusian state-owned company Agat holds 75% stake in BeST, while state-controlled fixed-line monopoly Beltelecom holds 25% stake in the company.

<span style='font-size:13pt;line-height:100%'>Belarus? MDC subscriber base up to 2 million users</span>

MOSCOW, Mar 1 (Prime-Tass) -- The subscriber base of Belarus? mobile phone operator Mobile Digital Communications, or MDC, rose to 2 million users as of March 1 from 1.885 million users as of January 1, the company's press office said Wednesday.

MDC's subscriber base stood at 1.135 million users as of January 1, 2005.

MDC offers GSM 900/1800 standard services under the Velcom brand.

MDC was founded in August 1998. MDC?s charter capital is divided among Cyprus? SB Telecom with a 49% stake, Belarus? state-controlled fixed-line monopoly Beltelecom with 31% and Belarus? arms and weapons exporter Beltekhexport with 20%.

<span style='font-size:11pt;line-height:100%'>Belarus? MDC launches 3G network in test mode in Minsk</span>

MINSK, Mar 29 (Prime-Tass) -- Belarusian mobile phone operator Mobile Digital Communications (MDC) has launched a 3G network in test mode in Minsk, First Deputy IT and Communications Minister Ivan Rak told reporters Wednesday.

Rak said that the government does not plan to award 3G licenses for commercial usage yet. Third generation networks should be created in Minsk and other major cities on the base of already existing mobile operators' networks, Rak said, adding that he does not see it efficient to deploy 3G networks across the country.

The subscriber base of MDC amounted to 2 million users as of March 1.

MDC offers GSM 900/1800 standard services under the Velcom brand.

MDC was founded in August 1998. MDC?s charter capital is divided among Cyprus? SB Telecom with a 49% stake, Belarus? state-controlled fixed-line monopoly Beltelecom with 31% and Belarus? arms and weapons exporter Beltekhexport with 20%.

As much as I complain about my state run phone company and its monopoly (Etisilat), at least they are progressive when it comes to technology and have cheap internal calls. It is the international calls where they rob you blind (60 US cents a minute to call North America and Europe) and about US 25 cents a minute to call the mobiles with the cheapest international tariffs.

I've been carrying a Riiing phone in one pocket and an Etisilat in the other. Unfortunately, I often carry a Blackberry as well which makes 3 phones phones, yuck.

Turning to the US, GSM phones come from the providers SIM locked. Cingular (Orange) and T-MObile will eventually unlock your phones for you, but you need to be a good customer, half a reason, and the model has to be more than 90 days old.

The former ATT (now Cingular Blue) and the MVNO's will not unlock your phone, but of course you can get them unlocked back alley like you do in Europe. Phone repair shops are not particularly common in the US. I get mine fixed in Hong Kong or Dubai. (I'm getting my Nokia N70 reflashed with English firmware in the UK -- it is HK Chinese now with English, but no ITAP, etc).

I suspect the comment about permenant SIMs, however, is talking about the CDMA providers in the US. CDMA (2g) is a competing technology to GSM and does not use a SIM card in most implementations of the standard. In HOng KOng and Mainland China there is an impelmentation with a SIM, but not in most other places.

Stu

Interesting, but what does your post have in common with Belarus??? :unsure:

<span style='font-size:13pt;line-height:100%'><span style='color:#FF0000'>Belarusian GSM operator BeST user base at 7,500 as of May 1</span></span>

MINSK, May 3 (Prime-Tass) -- The subscriber base of state-controlled Belarus Telecommunications Network, or BeST, which started commercial operations in the capital city of Minsk on December 21, 2005, amounted to 7,500 users as of May 1, the company said late Wednesday.

The company currently operates 32 base stations and one switchboard in Minsk and is working to expand to other cities, BeST said.

Other mobile operators in Belarus, in addition to BeST, include two GSM operators, Mobile Digital Communications and Belarusian-Russian joint venture Mobile TeleSystems, or MTS Belarus, and BelCel, which operates in NMT450 and IMT-MC-450 standards.

Belarusian state-owned company Agat holds 75% stake in BeST, while state-controlled fixed-line monopoly Beltelecom holds a 25% stake in the company.


Not a great success for Luka, by now! :D

OT - one of Polish telecommmunications portals informed on 24th March 06 that the NMT450 network in Belarus had just been closed (actually replaced with CDMA 450). The portal claims that NMT networks still work in Poland (mainly as "wireless landlines" of Polish Telecom), Russia and Bulgaria.
It seems that there's a NMT network also in Iceland: http://www.icelandtelecom.is/english/resid...mobile_network/



Only 7500 subscribers and coverage in Minsk only - I "smell" forced national roaming coming :D

Just a few NMT networks still work in Russia. Many of them have been totally replaced or are being replaced with CDMA-450 networks too.

I don't believe they would force Velcom and MTS BY to provide national roaming for Best. I guess this would be too much for Luka & C', even. :D

Not MTS, but Velcom - why not? After all it's first GSM netowrk in the country and has the best coverage (and would have the Best one :lol: )

yes we still have them

http://www.mobikom.com/en/enter.asp?flash=yes

:)