News

InfiNet Wireless, a leading global manufacturer and provider of carrier-grade wireless infrastructure and Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (MTS), the leading telecommunication provider in Russia and the CIS countries, today announced that MTS has been selected by TNK-BP to deploy the wireless telecommunication infrastructure for the Samotlor oilfields in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Region in Russia. Based on Infinet’s wireless solutions, the network is designed to provide Internet access and support SCADA applications for TNK-BP’s producing assets and the company’s biggest subsidiary – Samotlorneftegaz.

As part of the project, MTS rolled out dozens of Infinet Wireless Base Stations and thousands of Subscriber Terminals (CPE’s) across the area of the oilfield, thus providing a robust communications platform spanning distances of up to 20kms. The selected solution provides reliable and sustainable connectivity to remote sites with capacities of up to 60 Mb/s in challenging environments with harsh weather conditions ranging from -50 to +60 Cº, all achieved without the need for any third party thermo-stabilisation equipment.

With the help of InfiNet Wireless, MTS is now able to offer Samotlorneftegas a range of services such as high quality voice transmissions, corporate computing services, CCTV and other security applications across the entire network. In addition to this, MTS is also able to enhance the quality and reliability of monitoring remote sites as well as significantly improving the production processes (based on the existing SCADA system). Individual operators located in the central control room can now not only monitor field processing parameters such as pressure in each individual oil well, oil consistence, temperatures, etc. but also remotely manage the sites to ensure these parameters stay within their safe ranges by starting and stopping the relevant pumps, or selecting alternative routes for the oil to be transported in the most appropriate pipelines.

“Thanks to our partnership with InfiNet Wireless, we can now offer a range of integrated telecommunication services based on leading edge solutions, all aimed at better serving our key corporate customers”, said Sergey Kuzmin, Director of MTS-Ural. “InfiNet’s innovative wireless technology allows us to offer a full spectrum of solutions to our customers, easily connecting remote locations in very short periods of time, even in areas that are normally hard to gain access to or where fibre-optic solutions are simply too expensive or physically impossible to deploy.”

“This project was deployed as part of the TNK-BP’s programme “Asset for the future – Intelligent oil well”, said Sergey Shevchenko, Chief Engineer and Deputy Director of Samotlorneftegas. “Thanks to the technically advanced and superior network provided by MTS and InfiNet, we have now been able to significantly improve the quantity and quality of information collected from the oil wells. We are already starting to consider similar project with MTS and InfiNet in other locations throughout Russia.”

"This exciting project is certainly another major milestone for InfiNet Wireless to indicate its ability to provide high-quality and high performance systems for mission-critical applications", said Dmitry Okorokov, InfiNet Wireless CEO.

MTS plans to provide wireless broadband services based on InfiNet Wireless technology in all areas of the Ural region of Russia by the end of the year. Currently there are 70 regions which have already been identified as target areas for which these types of solutions and services are in strong demand.

About MTS

Mobile TeleSystems OJSC ("MTS") is the leading telecommunications group in Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, offering mobile and fixed voice, broadband, pay TV as well as content and entertainment services in one of the world's fastest growing regions. Including its subsidiaries, the Group services nearly 100 million mobile subscribers. The Group has been awarded operating licenses in Russia, Ukraine, Turkmenistan, Armenia and Belarus, a region that boasts a total population of more than 230 million. Additional information about the MTS Group can be found at www.mtsgsm.com.

About Samotlorneftegaz

Samotlorneftegaz is TNK-BP’s top producing asset and the company’s biggest subsidiary. It is developing the central and southwestern sectors of the Samotlor field, producing 65% of its current recoverable reserves. Samotlorneftegaz’s core activities are exploration and development of oil and gas fields, drilling of parametric, exploratory, appraisal and production wells for hydrocarbons and extraction, transportation, treatment, processing and sale of hydrocarbons, construction of oil and gas field facilities. Additional information about Samotlorneftegaz can be found at www.tnk-bp.com.

About InfiNet Wireless

Established in 1993, InfiNet Wireless is one of the largest privately owned Fixed Broadband Wireless Access (FBWA) development and manufacturing companies in the world. With more than 19 years of intense customer based research and product development, InfiNet’s range of wireless connectivity solutions are the preferred choice of service providers of all types who require uncompromising connectivity.
To date, InfiNet Wireless has forged a solid foundation in fixed wireless technologies, and currently has thousands of deployments from the plains of Siberia to the depths of the Sahara, successfully deployed in over 86 countries. Its philosophy of providing the most flexible, reliable, cost-attractive and innovative solutions in the industry has helped it to reach the market leader position for Wireless solutions for business in all key markets around the world, and is fast becoming the benchmark for carrier grade multiservice broadband wireless solutions.