The Russian Federation Central Telegraph last month launched a venture called Radiotel – a wireless data network for the Moscow region. The Central Telegraph has acquired a sole licence in Moscow and 50 other locations in the Russian Federation to provide wireless data services. Several customers are now testing the network. The first users are expected to be banks, retail companies and financial organisations. The network right now has two Moscow base stations and users require small radio pads which have a range between 1,500 feet and 20 miles. Head of the Department of New Technologies at the Central Telegraph, Bertold Chausov, says that at present, about 70% of Moscow city is covered by the system. With the purchase of three more base stations by the end of the year, the whole of Moscow will be covered. The Central Telegraph later plans to make the service available outside Moscow. Intercity capacity to link up services outside the capital will be provided by Rossprint. Sprint Networks will also act as a distributor of the new service. The Central Telegraph bought a WIDANET wireless modem system from the Racal Messenger Ltd arm of Racal Electronics Plc. The initial order was worth around $4m. The Central Telegraph says new users will be charged $1,200 for a pad, $700 registration fee, $80 installation and $60 first time payment. Tariffs are then $0.05 for every eight 64 byte segments, plus $0.007 per segment.
