MOSCOW (WiMAX Day). The Russian wireless broadband carrier Synterra announced today an agreement with Orange Business Services, a subsidiary of France Telecom, to launch “mini” WiMAX networks across the Moscow region. The deal is one of the first of its kind where Orange will essentially act as a WiMAX Virtual Network Operator (WVNO).

According to a Synterra press release, Orange will organise the “supply of equipment, construction and launch of the WiMAX networks” as well as technical support and consulting services. Once the WiMAX networks are constructed, they will be transferred to Orange for their operation, and will allow Orange to offer the WiMAX network services under the Orange brand.

The network will use the Synterra backbone and radio frequencies. Under the terms of the agreement, Synterra will have the right to use ten percent of the network resources once they are built.

Synterra said that it anticipates two months to close the agreement, during which time Orange will begin testing and selecting suppliers for 802.16e WiMAX equipment.

During the last year, Synterra has been active in selecting strong partners to aid it in constructing WiMAX networks around Russia. In a prepared statement, Synterra CEO Vitaly Slizen said Orange “has become our biggest partner in the Moscow region on the project for development of regional mini-WiMAX networks. Our colleagues from Orange spoke highly of the combination of WiMAX technology capabilities, combined with the best economic conditions for the deployment of networks.”

In the past year, Orange has been actively growing its telecoms business in Russia. According to Dmitry Ivannikov, CEO of Ekvant (the trading name of Orange Business Services in Russia), “in the past year we have built 600 kilometres of ‘last mile’ fibre optic. Building terrestrial wireless access networks, we focus on the use of WiMAX technology. In a number of cities, Orange has its own frequencies and we will build our own wireless networks, and in regions where frequencies do not exist, such as in the Moscow region, we will use partners.”

Orange owns a licensed telecom infrastructure in Russia, offering a full range of products and solutions, including telephony, data transmission services, outsourcing of telecommunications infrastructure, Internet access, information security, and integration services.