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Category: Mobile-Telecom-Satellites

Satellite communications operators Iridium and Thuraya come back to Russia

By East-West Digital News / May 17, 2012 / 2 Comments

Iridium Communications, the global satellite communications company, expects to commence operations soon in Russia, after technical tests are completed and acceptance certificate received from the Russian authorities.

“Our interconnect in Russia is built and 95 percent complete, and we’ll soon be pleased to announce our new start in Russia,” Corporate Communications Director Liz DeCastro told East-West Digital News.

Iridium’s predecessor company, Iridium LLC, already operated in Russia in the 1990s before ceasing business around the world due to a bankruptcy.

Government-sponsored cloud platform offers software, infrastructure and development solutions

By Marchmont News, East-West Digital News / May 16, 2012

Rostelecom, the state-owned telecom operator, has completed phase one of “Project 07,” the national cloud computing platform to be fully put together by 2015 as part of the federal Information Society program.

The platform, launched in beta version in March under the o7.com domain name, offers cloud-based software, infrastructure and development platform services (SaaS, IaaS and PaaS, respectively).

Qualcomm could invest “hundreds of millions of dollars” in Russian tech companies

By East-West Digital News / May 15, 2012 / 1 Comment

Qualcomm, a leading US-based international provider of wireless technology and services – with a particular emphasis on chipsets for smartphones – is ready to invest “hundreds of millions of dollars” in Russian tech companies, Senior VP Anastassia Lauterbach told the Russian business daily Kommersant.

According to its strategic plan adopted in late 2011, Qualcomm will pursue four goals in Russia, said Lauterbach: help operators develop their networks; develop an ecosystem of Internet services; make the smartphone more accessible to the population; and invest in technology and science.

Mobile penetration rate over 150% in Russia, market close to saturation

By East-West Digital News / May 08, 2012

For the first time ever, all three major Russian mobile operators lost subscribers in early 2012, according to a report from AC&M Consulting, a Russian management consulting and research agency specializing in telecommunications and media.

Vimpelcom, MTS and Megafon saw their active subscriber bases – defined on a six- or three-month basis – shrink by 1.6 million, 579,000, and 1,500 people respectively.

This recent evolution could be a sign of market saturation, AC&M analysts say.

iPhone sales finally grow – operators accused of overpricing conspiracy

By East-West Digital News, Marchmont News / May 04, 2012

In 2011, the Russian mobile operator and retailer MTS – one of the two exclusive importers of iPhones to Russia – brought in as many iPhones (for $140.8 million) as it had during all the years dating back to the product’s launch in Russia in 2008.

According to the IT and telecom news portal CNews.ru, MTS’s purchases of iPhones amounted to $65.4 million in 2008 and to $79.4 million in 2010 — but to just $3.4 million in 2009, due to the initial commercial failure of the smartphone.

Megafon and Yota consider merger

By East-West Digital News / May 03, 2012 / 1 Comment

Last week, the Russian business daily Vedomosti reported that the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) received a joint request from mobile operator Megafon and WiMAx operator Scartel, which operates under the Yota brand, to authorize a merger.

Head of FAS Igor Artemyev stated that the merger could be authorized under the condition that Scartel makes its LTE network under deployment available to all players without any discrimination.

Report: M&A in the Russian communications and media sector in 2011 and early 2012

By Vyacheslav Jaravine, KPMG / Apr 30, 2012 / 1 Comment

2011 was a rather disappointing year for M&A both globally and in Russia. Compared to the 6% decline in the value of global M&A deals, Russia’s M&A market experienced an even stronger reduction in value, by almost 28%. This is a sign of its continuing higher volatility, but also the result of fewer mega deals taking place than in previous years.

The top of the league table, as well as overall activity, is dominated by domestic activity, reflecting the current low appetite of foreign investors in relation to acquiring Russian assets.

VimpelCom calls off 3-year Vietnam safari

Special to East-West Digital News by Oleg Kouzbit in partnership with Marchmont News / Apr 30, 2012

Vimpelcom, a leading Russian mobile operator with a broad international presence, announced last week that it would sell its 49% stake in Vietnam’s GTel Mobile, a JV it had set up in mid-2009 with local Global Telecommunications Corporation.

Under the terms of the $45 million deal, the Russian telco is relinquishing operational control of GTel Mobile and sanctioning a six-month transition period for the Vietnamese partner to discontinue use of the Beeline trademark.

Federal Antimonopoly Service initiates proceedings relating to SMS spam

By Leonid Zubarev, CMS Russia / Apr 30, 2012

The Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation for the City of Moscow has initiated proceedings against the furniture company Shatura for distributing advertisements via SMS without users’ consent (SMS spam).

During the check, the Antimonopoly Service established that Shatura had violated the article of the Federal Law on Advertising which forbids the distribution of advertisements via telecoms networks, including phone-based ones, without the prior consent of the users.
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Russian Post and Rostelecom judged “anti-brands of the year”

By East-West Digital News / Apr 27, 2012

The Russian Post was among the ten companies awarded the title of “Anti-Brand of the year” by Potrebiteli.ru, a non governmental consumer rights initiative, for the second time in two years.

“Judging from the endless flow of complaints, the Post’s work does not leave some things to be desired; it just leaves anything positive to be desired. Parcels can take months to be delivered, if they are delivered at all, and many will have something missing inside,” the NGO complains.

Category: Mobile-Telecom-Satellites

Satellite communications operators Iridium and Thuraya come back to Russia

Government-sponsored cloud platform offers software, infrastructure and development solutions

Qualcomm could invest “hundreds of millions of dollars” in Russian tech companies

Mobile penetration rate over 150% in Russia, market close to saturation

iPhone sales finally grow – operators accused of overpricing conspiracy

Megafon and Yota consider merger

Report: M&A in the Russian communications and media sector in 2011 and early 2012

VimpelCom calls off 3-year Vietnam safari

Federal Antimonopoly Service initiates proceedings relating to SMS spam

Russian Post and Rostelecom judged “anti-brands of the year”

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