Yota (russian: Йота) is a Russian mobile phone brand and mobile broadband manufacturer. Yota is a

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from othe ...

of Skartel LLC. On 9 May 2012, Yota's

WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) is a family of wireless broadband communication standards based on the IEEE 802.16 set of standards, which provide physical layer (PHY) and media access control (MAC) options. The WiMAX ...

was replaced by its LTE network. In September 2012, 4G networks were launched in the Russian cities of Novosibirsk,

Krasnodar Krasnodar (; rus, Краснода́р, p=krəsnɐˈdar; ady, Краснодар), formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southe ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

, Sochi, Samara,

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, c ...

Ufa Ufa ( ba, Өфө , Öfö; russian: Уфа́, r=Ufá, p=ʊˈfa) is the largest city and capital city, capital of Bashkortostan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Belaya River (Kama), Belaya and Ufa River, Ufa rivers, in the centre-n ...

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering an ...

, and St. Petersburg. Garsdale Services Investment Ltd. owns 100% of the Yota shares and 50% of the

MegaFon MegaFon (russian: МегаФон), previously known as North-West GSM, is the second largest mobile phone operator

shares. Garsdale itself is 82% controlled by AF Telecom, 13.5% by Telconet Capital, and 4.5% by the Russian Technologies State Corporation.

History

In 2006 the co-owner of the St. Petersburg company Korus, Denis Sverdlov, and Bulgarian businessman Sergey Adonev established the first provider of

, a new data transfer technology. In 2006,

was used in China, India, Indonesia, Taiwan and the United States. In 2008, Skartel was the first company in Russia to deploy

standard network in Moscow and St. Petersburg in a range of 2.5-2.7 GHz. In 2010 Yota announced its plans to launch LTE on its network. The first test of the new standard network took place in

, on 30 August 2010. The

subscribers The subscription business model is a business model A business model describes how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value,''Business Model Generation'', Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Alan Smith, and 470 practitioners f ...

gained access to the Internet at a rate of 20-30 Mbit/s. About 150 base stations have been installed in Kazan. The

investments Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing is ...

into the LTE network deployment constituted $20 million. The fourth generation LTE network, which was tested by the Yota provider in Kazan, was switched off the next day. At that point, Yota had no interest to use a 4G standard network in a commercial or test mode. In April 2019, Yota filed for bankruptcy. The bankruptcy stemmed from a lawsuit filed against the company by its contracted manufacturer Hi-P Singapore.

Long Term Evolution (LTE)

Officially, Novosibirsk was the first Russian city where the LTE network was deployed, commercially launched on 22 December 2011. Then this new format of communications was adopted in Krasnodar (29 April 2012), Moscow (10 May 2012), and Sochi (11 May 2012). Samara was connected to LTE on 23 May 2013. And later on Ufa and Saint Petersburg have also joined this service. LTE network works within a range of 2.5-2.7 GHz, which is one of the ranges, accepted as standard by the International Telecommunication Union. In Russia these frequencies have also been selected by the Ministry of Communications and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation for the 4th generation networks. LTE standard can provide the speed of up to 100 Mbit/s, however Yota provides the speed, limited to 20 Mbit/s in order to prevent the network from overloading and to provide equal LTE access to all the users. AF-Telecom (

Megafon MegaFon (russian: МегаФон), previously known as North-West GSM, is the second largest mobile phone operator

) and Skartel (Yota) concluded the contract on joint development of networks for the fourth generation LTE (Long Term Evolution) mobile communications in Russia based on a business model of the Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO). The key idea of the contract is that Megafon has an opportunity to give a telecommunication service of fourth-generation LTE, using Yota equipment, whereas Yota can use Megafon's network infrastructure. The main objective of the alliance is to give the subscribers access to the newest technologies and services, to make them more accessible and attractive at the expense of increased efficiency in capital expenses to build LTE networks and to decrease operational costs. By the same principle Yota cooperates with

Rostelecom Rostelecom is Russia’s largest provider of digital services for a wide variety of consumers, households, private businesses, government and municipal authorities, and other telecom providers. Rostelecom interconnects all local public operators� ...

under the same principle. On 10 July 2012, Megafon and Skartel shareholders declared the end of the transaction, under the results of which the property structure of both the operators is to be changed. The Garsdale Services (based in the

British Virgin Islands ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = Territorial song , song = " Oh, Beautiful Virgin Islands" , image_map = File:British Virgin Islands on the globe (Americas centered).svg , map_caption = , mapsize = 290px , image_map2 = Bri ...

) will be the owner of 50% plus one share of Megafon and 100% of the Skartel shares. Establishing a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

helped accelerate the implementation of new technologies in Russia, reduce expenses for building of a LTE network together with the operational costs, reduced final costs of services and ultimately made them more accessible. One condition has been made for to the companies: to provide access to LTE-network for other companies on the model of MVNO—i.e., on equal terms.

Yota Devices

In July 2011, Yota presented a new family of devices compatible with Yota's 4G

network. The devices had simple names like "Yota One" and "Yota Many". Unlike previous models, they were designed by the company itself. Shaped like a "plain box", Yota Many is a portable

WiFi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wa ...

hotspot device that is smaller than its predecessor. Yota's primary device, the Modem Yota, operates on Yota's 4G LTE network and looks like a slightly larger and thicker version of the Yota One. On 12 December 2012, Yota Devices announced the first "YotaPhone" prototype, a unique double-display

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

. It has a 4.3-inch, HD LCD display on the front and an

e-ink Electronic paper, also sometimes electronic ink, e-ink or electrophoretic display, are display devices that mimic the appearance of ordinary ink on paper. Unlike conventional flat panel displays that emit light, an electronic paper display re ...

display on the back. The prototype runs version 4.2 of the Android

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also i ...

. Yota Devices released more information at the Mobile World Congress in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

in February 2013. YOTAPHONE II

Controversies

On December 23, 2019, police came to Ruslan Shaveddinov's, a Russian political activist and Alexey Navalny's supporter. Shaveddinov was forcibly taken to the Investigative Committee. After being interrogated, he was escorted by a special convoy to Novaya Zemlya, to the 33rd . At the same time, the mobile operator

Yota Yota (russian: Йота) is a Russian mobile phone brand and mobile broadband manufacturer. Yota is a trademark of Skartel LLC. On 9 May 2012, Yota's WiMAX was replaced by its LTE network. In September 2012, 4G networks were launched in the ...

disconnected Shaveddinov’s mobile phone. As the phone was turned off for about 16 hours that day, his colleagues from FBK reported him as a missing person. According to The Insider’s investigation, the Russian law enforcement agencies had previously instructed Yota to track any actions on Shaveddinov's number. Alexei Navalny regarded this fact as complicity in his colleague’s kidnapping and urged his followers to refuse the company's mobile services.

References

External links