In 1996 the Ministry of Communications of the RF prepared the General plan to create and gradually develop federal public networks for mobile radio-telephone communication in accordance with Russian NMT-450 standards. The plan was approved by the Board of the Ministry of Communications of the Russian Federation. In addition, Giprosvyaz JSC in cooperation with MTT experts prepared a plan to create and develop the transit network of the Russian Federation. Later the provisions of these documents laid the foundation for MTT’s developing network and its interaction with mobile providers.
By experts’ assessment, 7-8 powerful transit nodes can be built in Russia to facilitate direct exchange of information between regional mobile networks. Unlike the full integration of all networks this plan will limit the required number of digital links and reduce the length of the link between the provider and the nearest node, which will improve communication.
The first transit node was built in Moscow in 1995; the second one was built in St. Petersburg in 1996.
In the spring of 1996, 33 cities across Russia, including Nazran (Ingushetia), Kaliningrad, Omsk, Barnaul, as well as the Black Earth Region, etc. had access to automatic roaming for NMT subscribers through MTT’s network.
Providers using MTT services multiplied. By late 1996 MTT’s transit network serviced 25 NMT providers with about five thousand subscribers.
That year the first GSM operator made use of MTT services. The contract with Mobilnye TeleSystemy for the provision of long-distance communication was concluded in May 1996.
Multiregional TransitTelecom expanded its list of services. In August 1996 MTT began providing international roaming to operators of NMT-450 standard. MTT’s first signalling route appeared between Tele Danmark Mobil (Denmark) and Moskovskaya Sotovaya Svyaz (Moscow Mobile Communication) (Russia).
By late 1996 103 mobile networks had been registered in Russia, with the number of subscribers exceeding 223 thousand.