About the event

On May 27-28, 2021, Moscow hosted the XIII International Business Forum “Wireless Russia & CIS: LTE, 5G and IoT Networks” organized by ComNews Information Group.

The forum was supported by key developers of 5G technologies: Huawei was the platinum sponsor of Wireless Russia & CIS 2021, Ericsson was the gold sponsor, Nokia and Qualcomm were the silver sponsors, and Gilat Satellite Networks was the bronze sponsor.

IskraTel company and STC Protey were the session sponsors, also the forum was held with the participation of Moskabel-Fujikura, CompTek and NTR company.

The general participants of the exhibition were Huawei, Anritsu Corporation and Alcor-Communication (2TEST).

The forum was supported by recognized global partnerships and associations: 3GPP, GSA, LoRa Alliance, NGMN Alliance, Wireless Broadband Alliance, Wireless Ukraine Association, as well as the Russian Association of Internet of Things Market Participants (iotas), “yaITy” CIO&CDOs club, and the International Academy of Communications.

At the plenary session on May 27 the first developments in the field of 6G technologies and the future of wireless technologies were presented by world experts: Wanshi Chen, Chairman of the working group on Radio Access Networks (TSG RAN), 3GPP, Joe Barrett, President, Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), Mario Manevich, Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Feifei Lu, Executive Program Manager, The Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Alliance, and, for the first time in Russia, Kiran Kuchi, Professor, Dean of Research and Development, Institute of Information Technology (Hyderabad), with a report about the experience of creating the Indian 5G standard.

Tair Ismailov, Director for Strategic Cooperation in Russia and the CIS, GSM Association (GSMA), spoke about the world experience in issuing frequencies. Rashid Ismailov, President, VimpelCom (VEON Group), concluded the block of reports of the Plenary Session, noting that the domestic production in Russia has a chance, providing that there is proper public investment, to become competitive by the time of the launch of 6G networks.

The discussion was continued by Oleg Sobolev, Member of the Council of the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine, Chairman of the Management Board, Wireless Ukraine Association, Lidia Varukina, Director of Mobile Communication Technologies in Eastern and Central Europe, Central Asia, Nokia, Dmitry Konarev, leading expert on wireless technologies, Huawei Eurasia, Vitaly Shub, Head of 5G Leading Research Center, Skoltech, Anatoly Ilyaich, Vice President for Development of Radio and Transport Networks in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Ericsson, Yevgeny Devyatkin, Deputy Director of the Research Center for EMC Analysis, Radio Research and Development Institute NIIR, Tair Ismailov, Director for Strategic Cooperation in Russia and the CIS, GSM Association (GSMA), Vladimir Valkovich, Director for Strategy and Long-Term Planning, Network Development, VimpelCom, Igor Minaev, Technical Director for Standardization Projects, European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), Konstantin Zudin, Director for Regulatory Affairs, VimpelCom, Valentin Polozenko, Director for Network Infrastructure, MegaFon.

The large-scale second session was held by Vadim Poskakukhin, Project Manager, Spectrum Management. The reports about the infrastructure for building communication networks and new wireless technologies were made by Dmitry Sakharchuk, Chief Architect of the corporate center, Rostelecom, Dmitry Konarev, leading expert on wireless technologies, Huawei Eurasia, Anatoly Ilyaich, Vice President for Development of Radio and Transport Networks in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Ericsson, Lidia Varukina, Director of Mobile Communication Technologies in Eastern and Central Europe, Central Asia, Nokia, Sergey Karmanenko, Director of Business Development, QUALCOMM Europe Inc., Danila Medvedev, CTO, Gilat Eurasia, Konstantin Kolovsky, Senior Product Manager, Wireless Solutions Department, Huawei Eurasia, Ilya Kryuchkov, 5G Radio Portfolio Manager, Macroregion Europe and Latin America, Ericsson, for the first time in Russia – Tiago Rodriguez, Director General, Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), Leonid Kubarev, Deputy Head of the Design and Technology Department, Moskabel-Fujikura, Konstantin Zudin, Director of Regulatory Affairs, VimpelCom, Valery Tikhvinsky, Chief Researcher, Radio Research and Development Institute NIIR, Alexey Shashkov, Sales Director, NTR, and Vladimir Zinchenko, Head of Radio Relay Equipment, NTR.

The business program of the first day ended with a topical session on domestic developments in the field of LTE and 5G. Reports on the first technological projects in Russia to create domestic network equipment of the fifth generation were presented by Vladimir Freinkman, Director of Marketing and System Research, STC PROTEY, Vitaly Shub, Head of 5G Leading Research Center, Skoltech, Vadim Belyavsky, head of the Global Wireless Technologies company, Director of the STC of advanced developments, GlobalInformService (Concern “Sozvezdie”), Alexander Alyokhin, head of the project for the development of LTE BS, TENET company.

At the end of the session, a buffet reception was given in honor of the 30th anniversary of cellular communication in the Russian Federation.

The second day of the forum started with the session “5G Networks for Smart Industry” moderated by Leonid Konik, Director General and Editor-in-Chief of ComNews Information Group. The first presentation was made online by Afif Osseiran, General Vice Chairman, 5G Alliance for Connected Industries and Automation (5G-ACIA). Reports on corporate communication networks were presented by Alexander Averkiev, Technical Director – Solution Architect, IskraUralTel, Igor Akulinin, Advisor to the President, Huawei Eurasia, Alexander Romanov, Director of Business Development in Russia, Ericsson, Mikhail Lenko, CTO for Enterprise and Government Market in Russia and the CIS countries, Nokia, Sergey Portnoy, Director of Business Development, CompTek, and Roman Kapustin, Head of Product “Private Networks”, MTS.

Besides these speakers, the discussion that followed was also attended by Alexey Kartashev, Director of the Telecommunications and Communications Development Directorate, Gazpromneft Information Technology Operator (Gazpromneft ITO), Vitaly Shub, Head of 5G Leading Research Center, Skoltech, Igor Tucha, independent expert, Vladimir Freinkman, Director of Marketing and Systems Research, STC PROTEY, and Vadim Belyavsky, Head of Global Wireless Technologies, Director of the STC of Advanced Developments, GlobalInformService (Concern “Sozvezdie”).

The round table entitled “IoT in the 5G Era” was held by Andrey Kolesnikov, Director, Association of Internet of Things Market Participants. Before the discussion, a report on LoRaWAN IoT solutions was presented by Ivan Dergachev, Sales Support Engineer for LPWAN, EMEA, Tektelic (LoRa Alliance Ambassador).

The discussion was attended by Anatoly Sartakov, Director General, SNBWAN, Ivan Dergachev, Sales Support Engineer, LPWAN, EMEA, Tektelic (LoRa Alliance Ambassador), Sergey Portnoy, Business Development Director, CompTek, Sergey Ezyk, Regional Director in Russia, Sigfox S.A., Andrey Plavich, Head of the Center for Device Development and Internet of Things Network Planning, MTS, Vladimir Shkvarin, Head of engineering development of IoT solutions, ER-Telecom Holding. The experts discussed the competition of eco-systems in IoT and practical aspects in the IoT technologies application.

The business program of the forum was completed with the round table on the prospects for the development of MVNO business in the Russian Federation and the world.

Jacques Bonifet, CEO, Transatel S.A. (France); President, MVNO Europe Association, presented his online report this year too.

The following discussion was attended by Ruslan Gurdzhiyan, Director General, Sberbank-Telecom (SberMobile), Sergey Volkov, Director of Development of the Virtual Operators and Partnerships Segment, T2Mobile (Tele2), Alexey Chernetsov, Director of the MVNO Project Office, Rostelecom, Alexander Melnikov, Founder, MCN Telecom, Vladimir Freinkman, Director of Marketing and Systems Research, STC PROTEY.

We thank our partners, speakers and listeners for participating in the forum!

Plan ahead your participation in the XIV International Business Forum “Wireless Russia & CIS:

LTE, 5G and IoT Networks” in May 2022.

The next large-scale telecom event in the industry will be the X International Forum “Broadband Russia Forum: Transformation of broadband networks of cellular, wired and satellite communications in the era of 5G, smart cities and the digital economy” that will be held on November 25, 2021 at the Hilton Garden Inn Moscow Krasnoselskaya Hotel (Moscow, Verkhnaya Krasnoselskaya str., 11a b.4) with the possibility of online participation.