Telecompaper reports that Russian operator Scartel, working under the Yota brand, announced that it has finalised construction of its LTE network in Kazan. With an investment of US$20 million, 147 base stations were built, covering the entire area of the city. Yota reportedly achieved download speeds of 10 to 30 Mb/s during the testing. Yota plans to launch LTE networks in Novosibirsk and Samara by the end of the year. The moves are significant as the operator initially planned to launch WiMAX networks, a rival technology to LTE, but later changed plans.