MOSCOW, RUSSIA / ACCESSWIRE / February 28, 2018 / At Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona, the world’s largest event for the mobile telecommunications industry, MTS signed an agreement with Ericsson to jointly launch an R&D Center in the Republic of Tatarstan to develop a wide range of innovative solutions based on 5G and IoT technologies. The agreement is a part of the broader strategic collaboration between MTS and Ericsson in the 5G space.
The R&D Center will be opened in the second quarter of 2018 using existing MTS’ infrastructure at the technology park “Innopolis” in Kazan. The first task for the R&D Center is to focus on developing Smart City solutions for Russian urban areas.
The setup of the center assumes that both Ericsson and MTS contribute expertise to the project, including developers, engineers, business analysis and market research. MTS will provide the premises, data center facilities, test environment, additional resources from its Innovation Center, as well as the newly created IoT Lab. Ericsson will provide access to its proprietary technologies (including Ericsson IoT Accelerator, Massive IoT solutions for NB-IoT development), global expertise, educational resources, ecosystem of partners, startups and universities, including consulting support in the form of the Ericsson Cloud Lab in Aachen, Germany, and the Ericsson Garage incubator start-up.
Valery Shorzhin, Vice President, Procurement and Administration, MTS, commented: “MTS is actively preparing its network for the introduction of 5G technologies. We are conducting research both in-house and through partnerships with key suppliers, and continuously testing new solutions. Today, we launch a new stage of our technological cooperation with Ericsson. The launch of a joint R&D Center will significantly accelerate the introduction of innovative products to the market. We hope that the research work of both companies will allow us to bring new developments not only to the Russian, but also to the global market. MTS has the competencies and experience to create innovative products through its own Innovation Center and IoT Lab”.
Sebastian Tolstoy, President, Ericsson (Russia), commented: “Establishing joint R&D Center with MTS at Innopolis is a new phase of our strategic cooperation with MTS in 5G. Ericsson will provide its latest 5G and IoT technologies, global expertise and access to worldwide ecosystem of partners and universities, as well as support of key Business Labs. The R&D Center at Innopolis will become an important part of Ericsson’s global R&D program for the development and launch of IoT innovations to drive large-scale uptake of IoT in Russia and beyond”.
Initially, both companies will create a working group and assemble the technological infrastructure used by the Center. In cooperation with local partners, universities and start-ups, the companies will organize a number of hackathons, focusing on development of Smart City solutions. Subsequently, a joint commission will determine the most promising ideas for building product prototypes. Based on test results, the companies will select the most innovative solutions for practical implementation in 2019.
For further information, please contact in Moscow:
Joshua B. Tulgan
Director, Department of Corporate Finance and Investor Relations
Mobile TeleSystems PJSC
Tel: +7 495 223 2025
E-mail: ir@mts.ru
Learn more about MTS. Visit the official blog of the Investor Relations Department at www.mtsgsm.com/blog/
Mobile TeleSystems PJSC (“MTS” – NYSE:MBT; MOEX:MTSS), the leading telecommunications group in Russia and the CIS, provides a range of mobile and fixed-line communications services. We serve over 100 million mobile subscribers in Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Turkmenistan, and Belarus, and about 9 million customers of fixed-line services, including fixed voice, broadband internet, and pay-TV. To keep pace with evolving customer demand, MTS is redefining what telecommunications services are by offering innovative products beyond its core network-related businesses in various tech segments, including Big Data, financial and banking services, internet of things, OTT, cloud computing, systems integration and e-commerce. We leverage our market-leading retail network as a platform for customer services and sales of devices and accessories. For more information, please visit: www.mtsgsm.com.
Some of the information in this press release may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of MTS, as defined in the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify forward looking statements by terms such as “expect,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “intend,” “will,” “could,” “may” or “might,” and the negative of such terms or other similar expressions. We wish to caution you that these statements are only predictions and that actual events or results may differ materially. We do not undertake or intend to update these statements to reflect events and circumstances occurring after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. We refer you to the documents MTS files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically the Company’s most recent Form 20-F. These documents contain and identify important factors, including those contained in the section captioned “Risk Factors” that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in our projections or forward-looking statements, including, among others, the severity and duration of current economic and financial conditions, including volatility in interest and exchange rates, commodity and equity prices and the value of financial assets; the impact of Russian, U.S. and other foreign government programs to restore liquidity and stimulate national and global economies, our ability to maintain our current credit rating and the impact on our funding costs and competitive position if we do not do so, strategic actions, including acquisitions and dispositions and our success in integrating acquired businesses, potential fluctuations in quarterly results, our competitive environment, dependence on new service development and tariff structures, rapid technological and market change, acquisition strategy, risks associated with telecommunications infrastructure, governmental regulation of the telecommunications industries and other risks associated with operating in Russia and the CIS, volatility of stock price, financial risk management and future growth subject to risks.
SOURCE: Mobile TeleSystems PJSC
ReleaseID: 491195
