A further example of the continuing drive to meet the growing demand for mobile communications on metro services comes from Belarus where operator MTS has announced that it will provide communication for passengers on the new line of the Minsk metro.
MTS says that passengers on the new Minsk metro line – the metro’s third – will be able to use MTS voice and internet communications at the soon-to-open first four stations: Kovalskaya Sloboda, Vokzalnaya, Ploshchad Frantishka Bogushevich and Yubileinaya Ploshchad.
Communication will be available both on platforms and in coaches while the trains are moving.
This is a 3G service for which UMTS900 and UMTS2100 technology has been used. Distributed base stations with multiple sectors are installed on the platforms. The tunnels use a special cable that emits a mobile signal along the entire stretch. There are also connections to the radio modules of MTS base stations installed on each platform and along the tracks.
This, says MTS, will ensure that the signal evenly covers every metre of the metro tunnels and make it possible to access uninterrupted voice and internet connections.
MTS communication in the tunnels of the Minsk metro was launched in May 2019. Now MTS says subscribers can use 3G / 4G networks between all stations of the metro.
However, MTS is not alone. As we reported in March, A1 Belarus also has plans to launch voice and data mobile communications at all new stations on the Minsk metro, as well as along the lines connecting them. A1 Belarus has now apparently completed the testing of its mobile network on the third line of the Minsk Metro.
The construction of the metro in Minsk began in 1977. There are two lines at present. Work on the third line, which will run from the residential area of Zeleny Lug in the north to Kurassovshina in the south, is under way. The first section of this line was scheduled to be completed in mid-2020 but press reports in mid-October indicate only that the four new metro stations are to be commissioned in Minsk 'soon'.
