US Airspan announced in early January that it has put a WiMAX network, which it built together with Russian wireless broadband provider MetroMAX, into commercial use in the Russian city of Samara. The network, based on the 802.16-2004 standard, will offer WiMAX, VoIP, and VPN (Virtual Private Network) services to the residents of the city of Samara, which has a population of 1.2 million but a broadband connection penetration rate of only 5%. This will be the first time WiMAX services based on the 802.16-2004 standard will be commercially offered in Russia. Before the end of 2006 the two companies aim to expand the service to Samara county as well, which has a population of three million including the city.