The company “Maxcomm” declared the import of components for 20,000 base communication stations of the Swedish operator-class telecommunications equipment manufacturer Ericsson to Russia. Industry experts estimated the value of the batch at $40 million and believe that its volume is equal to the annual reserve for network development of one of the country’s largest operators.

Telecom representatives told the media that Ericsson’s permission is required to activate this equipment. It is not yet clear whether Maksk has these necessary licenses. There are currently no bans from the EU and sanctions for the supply of such equipment to private Russian organizations.

In the “Unified Register of Certificates of Conformity and Declarations of Conformity” of Rosacreditation, it is stated that “Maxcomm” LLC declared 20,000 multi-standard transceiver base stations manufactured by Ericsson AB for import into the Russian Federation. These are 10,000 Baseband 6630 KDV127621/11 and 10,000 Baseband 6630 KDU137848/11 (Baseband Unit – BBU, component part of the base station).

Experts explained to the media that Baseband 6630 is one of the key modules of Ericsson’s base stations, which supports 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G communication protocols. “This unit performs computing functions, providing switching, traffic control, synchronization, signal processing and radio interface. The module can be called the “brain” of the station,” Oleksandr Syvolobov, deputy head of the NTI Competence Center based at Skoltech for wireless communication technologies and the Internet of Things, told the media.

MTS, Tele2, Rostelecom, Megafon and Vimpelkom refused to comment to the media. Ericsson’s global office and the Ministry of Digital did not respond to media inquiries about this equipment.

“Makskyi” LLC was founded on February 7, 2023 with the main activity of “wholesale trade in electronic and telecommunication equipment and its spare parts”. Market experts did not know about this company before.

At the end of April 2023, the representative office of Ericsson in Russia, Ericsson Corporation JSC, reported a loss of 2.3 billion rubles for 2022. In 2021, the Russian legal entity reported a net profit of 533 million rubles.

Last December, Ericsson announced the transfer of customer support in Russia to a company owned by former operations managers of the division in the country. The company sold its Russian “daughter” LLC Sonerik, which retained about 40 engineers, as well as certain assets and contracts related to the business.

In mid-April, Skoltech put into production the first domestic 5G base station as part of the import substitution of solutions from Ericsson and Nokia. The software and hardware complex took 39 months to develop. The total budget of the project amounted to 342 million rubles, including 300 million rubles of state support.

• On April 11 last year, Ericsson suspended its activities in the Russian Federation for an indefinite period due to sanctions. In fact, at that time, trucks with Ericsson base stations for Russian customers were stopped right at the border, they were already in the customs zone on the Finnish side. This happened due to the withdrawal of export licenses. Ericsson lost $130 million due to its withdrawal from the Russian market, according to the telecommunications equipment manufacturer’s financial report for the second quarter of 2022.

• On April 12, Nokia announced that the company was winding down its business in the Russian Federation and was leaving the country completely.

• At the end of August 2022, the Swedish carrier-class telecommunications equipment manufacturer Ericsson announced that it would close its representative office in Russia and completely stop doing business in the country. The company will reduce all employees, including engineers and specialists who provide technical support on networks of communication operators.

• Nokia also said that the company will fully complete its withdrawal from Russia by the end of 2022, lay off employees and close the legal entity.

• In September, Ericsson denied reports of new supplies of equipment to the Russian Federation. The company received licenses from EU regulators to supply software and provide technical support to some key customers for ongoing projects in the country as part of ensuring uninterrupted operation of communication systems. The representative of the company explained that since the end of February, Ericsson has not placed any new orders for telecommunications equipment to mobile operators in the Russian Federation. Customers in the country were provided with only the necessary software and technical support under previously concluded contracts.

• On December 21, foreign media reported that after the departure of telecommunication equipment manufacturers Nokia and Ericsson from Russia at the end of the year, we should expect irreversible damage to mobile networks, which in the long term will cause a deterioration in communication for Russians.

• After that, the Ministry of Digital Affairs explained that the departure of Nokia and Ericsson from Russia will not affect the quality of mobile communications, and there is no shortage of telecom equipment in the Russian Federation. “There is no shortage of telecom equipment, the departure of companies will not affect the quality of communication. Operators will gradually switch to Russian equipment,” the agency said.