In a press release, mobile network operator (MNO) MTS Belarus says it has extended the availability of 4G to customers in Grodno region, with the rollout of services in six towns/cities in the western region, namely: Novogrudok, Voronovo, Ivye, Oshmyany, Svislochi and Dyatlova. The service expansion, which is being carried out by dint of a tie-up with Belarus’ national infrastructure provider Belarusian Cloud Technologies (beCloud), augments the MNO’s existing LTE coverage in the region which already encompasses Shchuchin, Lida, Korelichi, Bolshoy Berestovitsa, Svislochi, Volkovysk, Mostyh, Smorgon, Ostrovets and Slonim.
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, in January this year MTS Belarus announced its intention to launch LTE services in 80 cities/towns in 1H18, including deploying additional base stations in areas where its advanced network is already present, to push 4G penetration to 70% of the population, including 95% of those living in urban areas, covering not only Minsk and Minsk region, but also in almost all regional centres across Belarus. Between January-June 2018 MTS intends to deploy at least 650 new LTE base stations – marking a near 80% increase on the 800 or so in use via a tie-up with beCloud at the time of the announcement. Last month MTSBelarus switched on 4G services in the cities of Logoysk, Volozhin, Krupki, Myadel, Luban and Staryya Darohi in the Minsk region.