A couple of years ago, a real battle broke out between the main cellular operators on the topic of who was the first to master the capital's subway. Thus, the youngest operator Tele2 announced the appearance of its fourth generation standard network at all stations of the Moscow metro, and two days before that MegaFon spoke about covering not only stations, but also sections inside the ring line. At the same time, MTS presented statistics on the use of the Internet by its clients in the subway. Of the Big Four operators, only Beeline remained on the sidelines.
Today we’ll talk about the coverage of the Big Four operators in the capital’s metro: which operator’s subscribers have access to the largest coverage, and is it possible to always stay in touch even underground.
4G should not interfere with intelligence services
The press service of Megafon stated that the Law “On the Protection of Competition” allows telecom operators to rent state and municipal property without holding competitions. The radiating cable itself has extensive capabilities to support a large number of radio signals from systems in various frequency ranges, thus, its use in the interests of LTE technology in no way limits the functionality for dispatch communications systems or law enforcement agencies (TETRA).
“This solution allows us to implement a large-scale infrastructure project for the city and metro,” Megafon said. “The principle of infrastructure sharing is being actively implemented here, which will allow passengers to access the Internet at high speeds. Moreover, part of the functionality of the created LTE infrastructure is expected to be used to perform the tasks of subway security, technological telematics, service radio communications and others.”
MTS limited itself to commenting that the company provides Moscow metro passengers with voice services and mobile Internet using several technologies: base stations, its own radiating cable, as well as using femtocells, which are located in metro cars and provide 3G network coverage when moving in tunnels.
Communication network caused subway accident
On January 22, 2021, a disruption occurred on the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line of the Moscow metro: trains did not run for an hour or ran at extended intervals. Passengers stuck between Shchelkovskaya and Pervomaiskaya stations had to be evacuated from the tunnel. The official reason was given as a problem with the communication cable.
A CNews source among the metro technical staff says that the cause of the accident was a collision of rolling stock with a wave guide. As a result, the bracket containing the cables for the communication network between rolling stock and the ERIS-M network was damaged, and a short circuit occurred.
Telecom operators united for the sake of Internet in the St. Petersburg metro
The remaining operators - MTS, VimpelCom, Tele2 - could not lay their cables adjacent to Megafon's cable; their equipment was installed only at stations (MegaFon provided operators with technical conditions for connection upon request). This has repeatedly become the cause of complaints from other mobile operators.
Impact on Wi-Fi Internet
“Megafon will lose its sole right to provide subscribers with the Internet along the entire metro route, but the agreement will really hit the network, which currently provides Wi-Fi in the St. Petersburg metro,” says Denis Kuskov, CEO of Telecom Daily. According to his estimates, more than 70% of subscribers of cellular operators use package tariffs with cheap or unlimited Internet - which means that MaximaTelecom will only have 30% of subscribers with expensive tariffs, as well as tourists and city guests.
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Laying infrastructure in sections of the St. Petersburg metro, according to Denis Kuskov, is much more expensive than above-ground construction: “If a base station in a field costs more than 3 million rubles, then underground investments are much higher. Overall, the project will require billions of rubles of investment.”
High traffic
MaximaTelecom itself does not see any serious risks for its business in St. Petersburg. “Wi-Fi in the metro will always be a popular service, primarily because cellular networks in the subway do not always cope with large volumes of traffic: as the number of users increases, the quality of the network will decrease,” says Anastasia Samoilova, director of external communications at the company.
She explains that the capacity of cellular networks in the metro is many times lower than that of Wi-Fi, especially in conditions when three operators use the same infrastructure. In addition, Wi-Fi in the metro provides communication not only for passengers, but for the technological services of the metro itself. According to MaximaTelecom, on average there are 13 million connections to free Wi-Fi per month in the St. Petersburg metro.
Reference
The St. Petersburg Metro is an object with a record average station depth (up to 86 m) and the longest lines (up to 3 km). Today, the St. Petersburg metro has five lines with a total length of 124 kilometers, 72 stations, 83 vestibules.
The secret of Megafon
However, at the end of 2021, Megafon announced that fourth generation (4G) communications of the LTE standard in the 800 MHz range are now provided inside ring line tunnels.
To carry out 4G in the metro tunnels, Megafon used the cable of the ERIS-M special communication network
As follows from Megafon’s technical documentation, for this the company uses the ERIS-M network cable. ERIS-M is a trunking radio network of the Tetra standard, built for the needs of special consumers within the framework of the capital’s program “Safety in surface urban public transport and the metro for 2004-05.”
The ERIS-M network was built by the metropolitan government; its cost in 2007 was estimated at 1 billion rubles. The Moscow Property Department transferred the network to the economic management of the metro. From the technical documentation it follows that the MTS operator, which is building a network in the metro together with Megafon, can also use a connection to ERIS-M.
Two sources in the telecommunications market confirmed to CNews that Megafon is using the capabilities of the ERIS-M network. One of them is perplexed why the city property was leased to Megafon without holding a competition.
Another source says that the metro management itself forced operators to use ERIS-M, denying them the opportunity to build their own networks. However, this solution is not ideal: the radiating cable operates at a frequency of 450 MHz (Tetra standard frequency) and can only be used for one additional range - 800 MHz.
With the World on the rails of Moscow: again at a discount, but there are nuances
If there is a local payment system somewhere, then it needs to be promoted somehow - since by definition it loses to the global ones, at least because of its locality. This is not necessarily noticeable from a practical point of view - and at the time, cross-border transactions in Russia accounted for only 3% of card transactions (and this is still a lot compared to other countries - and now it has also become less for a variety of reasons), but for the consumer the opportunity using a map everywhere, and not just in a particular area, always seems attractive - regardless of whether he actually uses it or not. And the best way to promote is through various discounts and bonuses. Especially in popular places - for example, public transport. Moreover, in this case, “local workers” always have the advantage of being able to negotiate with transport companies. And in general, it’s no secret that almost everywhere it is subsidized to one degree or another, so the dependence of the fare on the payment method only affects the subsidies. And if they come from the same pocket as the promotion costs, then everything becomes even simpler.
In Russia, this all applies to “Mir” cards, which regularly host various promotions in different regions of the Federation. For example, from June 1 to September 30, there are discounts of 4-6 rubles on buses in Anapa, Gelendzhik, Novorossiysk and Sochi, and in the Samara region you can recoup up to 10% (but not more than 20 rubles) from a train ticket.
But the largest actions are, naturally, with the Moscow metro. There have already been three of them - from tomorrow until the end of the year the fourth will be in effect. The conditions are similar to the first three: paying for a trip with a bank card at the turnstile costs 46 rubles versus 42 rubles for a Troika wallet, but if it is a Mir card, then 10 rubles are returned back, and if the phone has a payment application to which the card is linked “Peace” is only 20 rubles. In total, in the best case, the fare will be 26 rubles - clearly cheaper than 42 rubles per wallet. A ticket for 60 trips (which must be departed 45 days from the date of purchase) now costs 2,070 rubles, i.e. each costs 34.5 rubles - the “World” on the phone is clearly more interesting, and the “physical” one only loses a little in terms of money, but may turn out to be more convenient (especially for irregular trips)
What is needed for this?
As usual, nothing complicated. First, register your card on the website of the loyalty program for Mir cardholders if this has not already been done. All cards are suitable, including co-branded ones (for example, “Mir-Maestro” from Gazprombank) - which are not included in many promotions, but there is no such restriction here. Then, if the card supports contactless payment, then you can ride for 36 rubles. And for 26 rubles you need to link a card (any card, even a virtual one) to your phone. What’s new here is that if previously only Mir Pay and Samsung Pay were suitable applications, now Apple Pay or SberPay are also announced. The main thing is that the bank supports it - otherwise they usually slow down (for a long time there were nuances even in the last point, although it would seem...): the technical ability to connect to Apple Pay appeared in the spring, and the first swallows flew only in July. But they fly in all cases. For example, for a summer promotion I had to create a virtual card from VTB (albeit in three clicks, but also an extra fuss), since neither Sberbank nor Russian Standard supported Mir Pay at that time, and I have other Mir cards did not have. Now Russian Standard is working, which simplifies things. Yes, and you can pay with Sber through the native application, although this is no longer necessary.
But there are also old nuances - because of which the fourth program is not suitable for everyone, just like the first three. The main stumbling block is ground transport. In which there is no stock, firstly. And secondly, when paying with bank cards, there is no “90 minutes” tariff, which is available on Troika. For example, I travel from home to the office by bus, then by metro, then by another bus - and pay 65 rubles for the entire route. Here you get 46+26+46=118 rubles. No point, in short. And 72 rubles for a one-time NOT-metro transfer is better than 92 without the promotion - but worse than the same 65 on Troika. So if you use ground transport, then there is no reason to change Troika.
In other places... there may also be some surprises. The innovation of the fourth stage is that the program now works not only in the metro and on the MCC, but also on the MCD. If you need a clean trip on the metro or MCC, there are no questions: everything has already been checked and debugged a long time ago. However, previously, no, no, and has anyone encountered the fact that transfers between the metro and the MCC turned out to be paid, although they should be free. Has this happened when paying at full rate? I have not seen such information. Perhaps it’s just that no one used it in noticeable quantities - that’s why there was silence. And during the action there are many people who want to do it - that’s why there are disruptions. In this case, most likely, you will have to write complaints and do other similar tedious work - or just give up on those extra 26 rubles.
MCD is terra incognita - diameter stations did not previously participate in the promotions. How and what will work there, especially in the first days, needs to be checked. Moreover, the MCD initially has two tariff zones - central (the same 46 rubles for a bank card) and suburban (54 rubles). Transfers to the metro and MCC are free in any case. If everything works correctly, then it will be possible, for example, to take the train to Odintsovo, change to the metro in Fili, then to the MCC on Kutuzovskaya - and get to Luzhniki for only 34 rubles (basic 54 minus 20 discounts). If something goes wrong... well, you understand - you will have to write complaints, etc. and so on.
In general, let's summarize. A definite plus - a “simple” trip by metro, MCC or MCD should be cheaper than by Troika. Ideally, even cheaper than with a ticket for 60 trips. The downside is that it is definitely not suitable for ground transport, regardless of its participation in the trip. Potentially dangerous places are transfers between the metro, MCC and MCD. In general, the MCD itself - since it has not been tested before. As well as Apple Pay - with which Mir cards generally began to work quite recently. So, if you fall into one of the risk groups, it may be better not to rush. Giving other fellow citizens the opportunity to step on the potential rake. The promotion will last for a whole quarter, so you still have time to save. But if you want to work as the first tester, and then share your impressions with everyone, then who will interfere. Moreover, the possible “losses” here are small. If you just need to take the metro or the MCC without transfers, then everything has been checked and debugged before. There are no contraindications.
Tele2 boarded the last carriage
3K 2 min.
and the Moscow Metro, Macomnet will spend 600 million rubles. to the communication network in the metropolitan subway sections. Macomnet will lay a radiating cable in the tunnels, which can then be rented by mobile operators to ensure uninterrupted coverage. The most interested in the new cable is Rostelecom's subsidiary Tele2, whose coverage in the metro lags behind its competitors, experts say.
Photo: Andrey Perechitsky, Kommersant / buy photo
Photo: Andrey Perechitsky, Kommersant / buy photo
, owned by the State Unitary Enterprise Moscow Metro and Rostelecom, announced a tender on June 11 for laying radiant cables in metro sections, Kommersant discovered on the government procurement website. The initial cost of the contract is 599.5 million rubles, the execution period is one year. New cable in the sections is needed to provide communication services in 2G, 3G, LTE standards. It will be used by mobile operators, and two or three operators will be able to deploy an LTE network at frequencies of 1800 MHz and 2600 MHz simultaneously, the procurement documents indicate.
Rostelecom explained to Kommersant that the cable is needed for new stations and metro lines where there is no mobile connection yet. The cable can be rented by all mobile operators “on equal commercial terms,” the company emphasized.
The press service of the State Unitary Enterprise “Moscow Metro” added that operators can rent the Macomnet infrastructure in the subway, or they can build their own to improve the quality of communication: “Already now all operators are present in the metro with their equipment on our infrastructure.” Macomnet did not respond to Kommersant’s request.
Operators often install equipment at the entrance and exit of the tunnel, so the signal disappears in the middle of the stretch; The radiating cable provides uninterrupted coverage, explains independent IT expert Vadim Plesssky. The technology also has a downside - the duration of construction, he adds:
“It would take years to cover the entire capital’s metro with radiant cables, since work can only be carried out four hours a day.”
"Megaphone"
is interested in modernizing the network infrastructure in the Moscow metro in order to increase Internet speed for passengers in tunnels, they say.
At MTS
has its own cable on three lines: Koltsevaya, Sokolnicheskaya and Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya; on the remaining lines the company rents cable from the metro, says its representative.
VimpelCom
uses Macomnet infrastructure in ten metro sections and is ready to continue cooperation, the company added.
In Tele2
(Rostelecom is its shareholder) reported that the operator this year has massively expanded coverage in metro tunnels and now its communications are available throughout the Serpukhovskaya, Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya, Sokolnicheskaya and Circle lines. Design work continues on the Zamoskvoretskaya line (the cable has already been laid from the River Station to the Krasnogvardeyskaya Line), noted the Tele2 press service.
However, Tele2 now has the weakest network in the capital’s subway sections, says Denis Kuskov, CEO of TelecomDaily. The company chose to invest in launching networks in new regions, so the new cable will allow Tele2 to catch up with competitors from the Big Three in the subway, Mr. Kuskov concludes. The construction of the cable will most likely be carried out in the interests of Tele2, agrees MForum analyst Alexey Boyko. To reduce costs, he believes, the customer can allow other operators to use it, and Tele2 will have the opportunity to provide continuous coverage in the hauls.
Anastasia Gavrilyuk
