MOSCOW, December 19 - RAPSI. The Moscow Commercial Court has dismissed Rostelecom's lawsuit to force Skartel to grant access to its LTE network, the court told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com) on Wednesday. Skartel is part of the Yota brand.

Rostelecom has asked the court to force Skartel to sign a contract to give the company access to its communication network infrastructure to provide LTE services under MVNO terms.

Previously, the court refused to take interim measures in the case.

Rostelecom asked the court to prohibit Skartel from entering into contracts with other operators to grant them access to its public land mobile network infrastructure on a federal level.

In another application, the plaintiff said that if Skartel signs contracts on using two idle mobile operator codes after the application is considered, this will prevent Rostelecom from doing so if its claims are upheld, as the company's access points will already be used by other operators.

The court found that the circumstances stated by Rostelecom were unsubstantiated and could not serve as a basis for the court to take interim measures in the case.
Rostelecom and three other mobile communications providers - MTS, Megafon and Vimpelcom - signed a letter of intent in March 2011 to render services using Skartel infrastructure.

In autumn 2011, the parties signed a memorandum of understanding stipulating the details of their agreement. In April 2012, they signed a preliminary cooperation agreement in Moscow, according to which Rostelecom would implement LTE services in test mode on July 1, and LTE services in commercial mode on September 1.
However, the primary contract was never signed, as Skartel could not settle on a final version, the Kommersant daily reported earlier, citing a Rostelecom source.

In autumn 2011, Skartel became the first provider licensed to build a federal LTE network. Rostelecom, MTS, Megafon and VimpelCom were only granted a license in summer 2012 after having won a tender for federal LTE licenses. Megafon works on the Skartel network. It is part of the holding that owns Skartel.

Skartel has finished receiving applications from providers to work on its network as part of the MVNO scheme. It must grant access to other providers after the Federal Antimonopoly Service issued an order after Skartel and Megafon were integrated under the holding.