(Telecompaper) Russian mobile operator Vimpelcom, working under the Beeline brand, and mobile operator MTS have announced a largescale partnership to jointly develop and operate LTE networks in 36 regions in Russia. Under the terms of the agreement, MTS will build and operate LTE base stations in 19 regions and Beeline will build and operate LTE base stations in 17 regions, by 2016. Within the first seven years of the project, Beeline and MTS plan to share base stations, platforms, infrastructure and resources of the backbone network, with each operator maintaining its own core network. The agreement does not limit strategic development and investment opportunities for either party; both companies will be able to construct base stations to provide additional coverage for their respective customers.