Now, as its statement suggests: “The deal will see Yota become the 4G network provider for the Russian telecoms market. Businesses will avoid costly duplication of infrastructure investment and millions of Russian consumers will benefit from faster access to 4G services and lower prices.”
The four mobile operators have the option to buy equal stakes (reported to be 20%) in Yota after 2014.
Yota's director of business development, Yegor Ivanov, painted the future recently in an interview with Mobile Business Briefing. “To expand really fast we can't continue in this way,” he said.
“We don't want to have a telco legacy - ideally we want to partner with companies... a franchising model is what we want.”
Yota CEO Dennis Sverdlov said in a statement: “This deal is an endorsement of our vision for the future of the telecoms industry. We firmly believe in the separation of network ownership and service provision and believe that this ground breaking agreement will drive innovation and benefit Russian consumers.
“Even more importantly, we believe that Yota can help all operators across the world to take advantage of the massive opportunity that 4G brings.”
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