Russian operator Yota (Scartel) and Russian regulator Roskomnadzor have settled Yota’s appeal against Roskomnadzor’s order issued on 27 July 2010 that withdrew several radio frequency licences in the 2.5 x 2.7 GHz range.

According to the voluntary agreement approved by the Ninth Appellate Court in Moscow on 11 April 2011, the parties acknowledge that the reason for Roskomnadzor’s July order was that the agency had revealed some previous violations of its internal radio frequency allocation procedure.

Initially Roskomnadzor announced that Yota can use their existing radio frequencies for deploying LTE networks. Later in July last yea Roskomnadzor revoked permission to use some of the frequencies issued to Scartel to build LTE network reportedly due to violation of the law. Regulator had banned a strip of 20-30 MHz allocated to Yota in the range of 2.5-2.7 GHz in 170 major cities of Russia.

Yota is allowed to refile its licence applications with Roskomnadzor, accompanied by an electromagnetic compatibility appraisal report, within seven calendar days after the date of the court’s approval of the voluntary agreement. Roskomnadzor agrees to process the new applications and make substantiated decisions based on the EMC report.,

Since the dispute is settled, Yota will also withdraw its petition to nullify Roskomnadzor’s order, which it lodged with the Moscow City Commercial Court on 2 August 2010.