GlobeTel gets big Russia wireless contract

GlobeTel announced Monday it would install wireless networks providing high-speed communications in 30 cities in Russia.

The Florida company said Monday its GlobeTel Wireless subsidiary would spend the next 27 months installing wireless infrastructure on behalf of LLC Internafta that will provide broadband, Voice over Internet Protocol and other services.

The project is worth $600 million to GlobeTel and will be carried out in three separate blocs comprising of 10 cities apiece.

"Russia will, quickly and at a relatively modest cost, have a wireless infrastructure that will rival any in the industrialized world," said GlobeTel CEO Tim Huff. "The Russian Internet market is severely limited by a lack of infrastructure and by the high cost to individual users of obtaining high speed internet."

Specifics of the project call for GlobeTel to deploy its HotZone 4010 as the network's backbone. The same gear was installed in the Russian Duma building last fall as part of a demonstration project.

GlobeTel Wireless will managed the completed network and retain a 50-percent stake in its operations.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International