MANAGUA, Nicaragua / SEOUL, Korea – December 15, 2009 - Yota, a provider of innovative mobile services, and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a leading provider of future mobile technology, jointly announced today plans to roll out a Mobile WiMAX service in Nicaragua, their first cooperative project outside of Russia.
Following the successful deployment of Mobile WiMAX in key centers in Russia, Yota is partnering with Samsung to extend its 4G wireless services in other markets around the globe.
At a launching ceremony today in Managua,Nicaragua, Yota announced that it launched the commercial pilot service for Mobile WiMAX in Nicaraguaon December 15, completing the launch in record time just three months after starting the deployment of infrastructure.
Yota plans to begin the commercial Mobile WiMAX service in mid 2010. The initial service will span Managua, the capital city of Nicaragua, before expanding coverage to other major cities including Masaya,Granada and Leon.
In order to accelerate the time-to-market advantage and provide high quality mobile broadband service, Yota selected Samsung as the sole Mobile WiMAX equipment partner for its international business. Yota will roll out the Mobile WiMAX network in Nicaraguausing the same Samsung network solutions that were successful deployed in the Russian market and offer consumers a similar lineup of devices, allowing a rapid launch of the service.
Yota will also start to operate a broadband wireless internet service in Nicaragua. The company plans to expand its services, concentrating on high quality voice, as determined by market demand.
Mohammad Shakouri, Vice President of WiMAX Forum, said: “The implementation of this project, which represents a remarkably fast transition from having dial-up and scarce fixed-line communications to 4G technology, will have a significant effect on enhancing the communications network available to consumers in Nicaragua.”
Egor Ivanov, Yota’s Vice President for Business Development, added: “We believe that Mobile WiMAX is the most suitable communication service for immediate deployment in Latin America, as it has very low internet penetration rates compared with a relatively high level of mobile phone penetration. Yota’s innovative business strategies and Samsung’s technical leadership provide maximum synergies for success in the global communications industry.”
Mr. Ivanov also noted: “Besides Nicaragua, Yota’s expansion plans include Latin America, the CIS and other countries from Asia and Africa. Totally now we are looking at 75 countries. Now we have already arranged more than US$500 million investment and this figure will increase by US$1.5 billion by the end of 2010.”
Woonsub Kim, Executive Vice President and Head of the Telecommunication Systems Division, Samsung Electronics, said: “I’m thrilled to extend Mobile WiMAX service availability around the globe with a strong partner such as Yota. The deployment of the network in Nicaraguashows that Yota has accumulated the expertise, resources and capabilities to deployment networks in any country with great speed and efficiency. Samsung will provide our full support to Yota based on our technology and experience in the Mobile WiMAX industry in order to achieve a successful global expansion.”
Yota launched its commercial Mobile WiMAX service in MoscowandSt. Petersburgin June 2009, with plans to expand by 2012 to 180 Russian cities including Sochi, which will host 2014 Winter Olympic Games. Yota has already reached breakeven point within four months of the commercial service launch, due to a strong growth in subscribers.
Samsung is a prominent player in the Mobile WiMAX industry, providing its market-proven equipment to 25 Mobile WiMAX operators in 21 countries. In particular, the world’s four largest Mobile WiMAX service providers – Yota in Russia, Clearwire in the United States, UQ Communications inJapan, YTL Communications in Malaysia– have all chosen Samsung as their prime equipment vendor. Samsung also plays an important role in standardization and developing technical specifications for IEEE 802.16 and the WiMAX Forum.