Deputy Head of IT at Moscow Town Hall Alexander Gorbatko said at a Tuesday press conference that the tender may be announced within a month, and construction will take approximately 2 years.

"We are working on the investment prospectus, and hopefully it will be announced in a month. Details are subject to discussion, but the general idea is bringing mobile operators to the Metro to have them all together, or any one of them, build Metro telecommunication infrastructure for all operators. The main focus of the project is leaky feeder cable to allow Wi-Fi and 2G/3G/4G access in train cars, so that all there is above ground should be available in the Metro as well", Gorbatko told the press.

Wi-Fi will be the social part of the project, since all access points in cars will be free, said Gorbatko, with a side note that the Wi-Fi connection will not be “top speed”. Other communication services will be provided by mobile operators and priced according to their plans.

The united infrastructure will cover all communication needs of the entire Metro system. It will include fiber optic leaky feeder cable in tunnels and access points that will be hosted outside the Metro, for instance in depots.

Gorbatko said that the existing configuration of the Metro does not allow for several mobile operators to build their network, and total coverage for all lines is also a very expensive project. With this in mind, Moscow Town Hall will offer joint participation to the city’s major mobile operators, Mobile Telesystems (MTS) , MegaFon and Vympelcom. Negotiations are currently in progress.

Total cost of the telecommunications infrastructure may amount to RUB 2,5-3bn, according to preliminary estimates by Head of MTS Moscow Konstantin Markov. If operators decide on joint participation, costs may be shared, especially in view of expected low profitability: voice services are not much in demand underground, while additional data traffic is an unlikely income source for operators. "Operators see the project as a quality showcase", said Markov.

If operators make this a joint effort, Metro telecom infrastructure is expected to be built over 1,5-2 years, says Moscow Town Hall IT Dept. If there is only one contractor, a full-scale network will take years to build.

According to Gorbatko, the tender will tentatively schedule the construction project within 2 years.

The criteria of the tender will include construction costs and readiness to minimize the Metro rent discount.

Low rent will be the city’s contribution to the telecom infrastructure project. The City budget will not take part in financing, said Gorbatko.

Major operators have already constructed parts of their fiber optic network in the Metro. These fragments may be incorporated in the joint infrastructure or continue as a separate network, said the official.

The operators who will be commissioned the Metro network are to provide non-restricted access to other market players. Work on the commercial details of network access are currently underway.

Several Wi-Fi access points have already been installed in the Metro, however they do not cover all lines. As of mid-2012, free Wi-Fi (operated by MTS) was available in 180 cars on Circle Line, used by an average 300 customers per hour, Moscow Town Hall IT Dept reported earlier.

Project Group №5