Category: Digital TV infrastructure
The Russian DTH platform Orion Express faces a major obstacle in its expansion plans. According to Vedomosti, a decision on whether the platform can use frequencies on the Horizons 2 satellite, which is owned by Intelsat, has been postponed until a meeting of the General Radio Frequency Centre (GFRC), called at the initiative of the initiative of the Russian Space Agency (Roskosmos).
CTC Media, a leading Russian media company listed on the NASDAQ, announced last week an agreement with GlobeCast to broadcast the international Russian-language version of CTC, “CTC-International,” via GlobeCast’s Hot Bird 8 satellite.
A subsidiary of France Telecom, GlobeCast is a global provider of content management and worldwide transmission services for professional broadcast delivery. Hot Bird 8 currently covers both western and eastern Europe as well as a number of countries in North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.
Fiber-optic telecommunication provider Transtelecom (TTK) is preparing to launch cable TV services next spring in several Russian regions.
“We don’t focus on one technology exclusively,” news agency RIA Novosti quoted TTK President Artem Kudryavtsev as saying. “Depending on the local situation in each region, we may use analog cable TV as well as the digital DVB-C standard and, in a later stage, IPTV.”
Interest in content delivery networks (CDNs) is growing amongst leading mobile operators in Russia. According to Russian publications AKTR and ComNews.ru, VimpelCom is currently looking for an equipment supplier for a CDN and expects to finalise a tender in the first half of this year.
MTS is meanwhile using one operated by the company NGENIX but plans to eventually build its own, while MegaFon has operated its own network on a commercial basis since last December.
Paris, December 1st, 2011 – GlobeCast announces today the expansion of its satellite capacity overRussia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) with a new Ku-band platform on the Yamal-201 satellite. Offering significant opportunities to penetrate the cable market throughout the CIS, GlobeCast’s capacity provides full coverage of this area to regional and international channels.
Russia has decided to opt for the DVB-T2 standard for its digital terrestrial services and will now set up pilots in eight cities.
Several local reports say the decision was made last week by a government commission chaired by Igor Shuvalov, the deputy PM.
Digital radio- and tele-broadcasting have been launched in the North Caucasus for the first time, TASS-Telecom reported last week.
The launch ceremony took place in Vladikavkaz in the Republic of Northern Ossetia-Alanya and was attended by Igor Shchegolev, the Minister of Communications and Mass Media.
Global satellite operator SES and Russian satellite operator Gazprom Space Systems (GSS) announced the formation of a strategic partnership last week to provide additional satellite capacity to serve the Russian market.
Under the agreement, SES has repositioned its ASTRA 1F satellite from 51 degrees East to 55 degrees East, reported Telesputnik, a Russian publication covering satellite and related issues.
The loss of the Express-AM4 communication satellite earlier this month has exposed the substantial difficulties facing the deployment of the DVB-T broadcasting network in Russia. Made by EADS Astrium, Express-AM4 satellite was equipped with transponders operating in C-, Ku-, Ka- and L-bands. These transponders were designed to provide DVB-T broadcasting and broadband Internet coverage across the Russian territory as well as in the former Soviet republics and Central European countries.
But even more serious concerns have appeared regarding the deployment of the head end network on the ground.
Two investment proposals filed with the Russian government by national telecom operator Rostelecom have received support from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Russian daily Vedomosti reported. The proposals aim to modernize Rostelecom’s networks in Russia’s Central Federal District by 2013 in order to provide all the District’s 7 million households with landline and wireless Internet, telecom and digital TV services at speeds up to 100 Mb/s.
Российским
“Our team fucked up in Russia, I lost tons of money,” says Lamoda.ru’s German owner Oliver Samwer
François Esculier: “The global battle for digital leadership is raging in Russia.”
Marina Treshchova of Fast Lane Ventures: “We just adapt relevant foreign models to Russian market conditions”