Siemens to test promising wireless technologies in Belarus in H1 2006

German telecommunication equipment producer Siemens AG will set up areas to test the most important wireless communication technologies in Belarus in H1 2006. The information was released by Belarusian communication and information technology minister Vladimir Goncharenko during today’s negotiations with Siemens AG representatives.In his words, a 3G UMTS cellular communication basic station will be deployed along with WiMAX wireless access technology. Radio frequencies for the test systems have been already assigned.

The minister underlined, “Earlier I raised the question of Siemens and Ericsson launching such test areas in Belarus, but, however, it took a long time to make the decision”. To speed up the process, in December 2005 the minister held negotiations with Siemens AG leadership in Munich (Germany).

WiMAX is a cutting-edge high-speed wireless data transfer standard. The technology can deliver data, voice, and video. It allows video conferencing via cellular networks (parallel voice data and video exchange) as well as Internet access. WiMAX can provide wireless Internet access at 70 Mb/s within fifty kilometres of one basic station beyond line-of-sight coverage.

The UMTS is a 3G mobile telephony technology, which is expected to replace the existing GSM systems. The UMTS boasts of high throughput and support for various data transfer protocols, for example, TCP/IP.

BelTA