4G at the edge of the world

A little less than a month ago, the cellular operator Megafon gathered a group of enthusiasts for a trip to Salekhard in order to demonstrate how telecommunications workers work in the Polar Urals. And also to present the launch of LTE standard communications where the Ural Mountains take their origin. Details under the cut.



“Yamal is the territory of the strong” is the way to say in the region, where you dig a little with a shovel, you rest against the permafrost, and subzero freezing temperatures in winter and summer are replaced by heat and heat. Here hydrocarbons are hidden in the bowels of the earth - the main means of replenishing the budget of Russia for several decades. Tundra and many lakes and rivers led by Queen Obyu are what surrounds the capital of the region, the city of Salekhard. By the way, it is the only city located on the Arctic Circle and most close to the Polar Urals.



Yamal, the region where the year of work is in two years, is developing steadily, which means that advanced technologies, including communications, are getting here in step with the times. The mobile operator Megafon has gathered more than a dozen journalists from all over our immense homeland to demonstrate the launch of LTE communications where the Ural Mountains originate.



However, before heading to the northernmost point of the Ural range, let us dwell on the regional capital, Salekhard, a city with a population of over 48 thousand people. Compact, and built of seemingly bright toy houses, it looks especially fabulous against the background of the heavy sky hanging over its buildings.











In April 2014, Rostelecom put into operation the final eighth section of the Northern Optical Flow - Nadym-Salekhard. The trunk link itself is the Northern Optical Flow, stretching for 3.5 thousand kilometers from Yekaterinburg through Khanty-Mansiysk, Surgut, Noyabrsk, Novy Urengoy to Salekhard. Since then, the Internet has appeared here with a “civilized” data transfer rate.







The climatic features of the region due to which the construction season for laying fiber-optic lines begins in September and is limited to one or two months did not prevent the optical backbones from here and other telecom operators. A private line connects the capital of Yamal with the rest of the MegaFon trunk network.







Now in Salekhard, communication services in addition to MegaFon and Rostelecom are provided by several other telecom operators: MTS, Beeline, Tele2 and Motiv. The particularities of the territory here are such that it is advantageous for companies to have a neighborhood with each other, since in the event of a malfunction in the communication channels of one operator, it switches to competitor's transport networks. Thus, rivalry here turns into mutually beneficial cooperation.



According to representatives of MegaFon, special working conditions in this territory are provided to operators by local authorities. For some time, construction of communication facilities, for example, base stations, does not require a huge amount of permits, and the procedure for issuing such permits has been simplified to a minimum. Thanks to such cooperation at YAMAL, virtually all major cities are covered by optics. Communication with the majority of settlements is organized on radio-relay communication lines. Including in the village of Kharp, where we went with a crowd of journalists and MegaFon specialists to launch the LTE standard for the first time in such a remote area.



Kharp settlement is located fifty kilometers from Salekhard. To reach it, you need to cross the Ob at the crossing to the river port of Labytnangi.











Then we are waiting for another forty kilometers to the north. Kharp village is notorious for the Polar Owl colony located here, where criminals sentenced to life imprisonment are kept. It is the personnel serving this penitentiary institution that makes up the bulk of the inhabitants of Kharp. These people, located far from the “big land” in the midst of the harsh nature of the Tundra and permafrost, need a high-quality wireless connection, especially since it is their only opportunity to connect with the civilized world.







The wireless signal arrives at Kharp along the following route: the signal via the radio-relay communication line from Salekhard goes to the operator’s base station located on Kiryushenaya Mountain, and then is redirected to the village. The base station is located a few kilometers from the village. In order to reach there, signalmen have to use special transport for difficult-to-reach areas.











Here, on such a road, signalers have to make their way uphill to the base station.











It is believed that the Ural range begins here on Kiryushenaya mountain. From here are stunning views.







So from this point looks village Kharp, along with the notorious colony “Polar Owl”.











This is how the territory of the base station looks from a bird's-eye view.







This point was chosen for the location of base stations not by chance - Kiryushina mountain is the closest hill to Kharp. Here are located the base station "Motiv", as well as the equipment of other representatives of the "big four".



Megafon spent about a month on the construction of this base station, and it took more (almost a year) to obtain permits. The station is built on the basis of a northern-type container with thickened walls. There is a vestibule and hardware, where the main “iron” is located. The equipment is heated even in winter temperatures, so there are two air conditioners inside.







Here the signal is received, processed and sent to Kharp and further to the mountains via radio relay transmitters.



























Redundant power supply of the base station is provided by the container diesel power plant located here in the neighborhood.







The territory of the base station is under video surveillance.







We were allowed to look into the “holy of holies” - the interior of the base station. Here everything is arranged very simply and compactly and quite understandable to those for whom communication is a profession. Racks with equipment, each of which supports different standards of communication from GSM to modern LTE, which will be launched today.



























When disconnecting the power supply, the batteries and uninterruptible power supply units installed here will help to keep the equipment running for some time.











This is how the base station looks like, where the equipment of other representatives of the “big four” and the Sverdlovsk “Motive” is installed.



















Immediately the 4G launch process itself took no more than an hour. Since the station has multi-band antennas that support several communication standards, the entire launch process was reduced only to filling the necessary software and setting the necessary parameters. The process took place with the active participation of specialists from Surgut, communication with which was maintained via internal communication channels. At the first stage, software for 3G communication was flooded, and some time later, LTE software was installed on the station equipment.



Things are easy. Check the speed on the monitor and smartphone, and you can go surfing the Internet from the Polar Urals.











MegaFon launched LTE now beyond the Arctic Circle, expanding the network coverage with high-speed data transmission. We are returning home, and the operator’s engineers will have to keep on monitoring 4G work in the village of Kharp for several months while the network will be tested.