Paul Myners, a former commercial secretary to the UK Treasury, is to join the board of directors of Russian mobile phone company MegaFon. The matter will be discussed at a general meeting of the company. Lord Paul Myners, who was made a life peer and entitled to a seat in the House of Lords in …
Russia’s national telecom operator Rostelecom saw its total pay-TV subscriber base increase by 11% year-on-year in the third quarter to 6.4 million. Of these, 1.2 million were interactive TV subscribers. The telco passed a total of 33.4 million households, of which 15.7 million (47%) were via FTTx technology, while its total broadband subscriber base grew …
On behalf of AmBAR, I am pleased to announce that AmBAR’s litigation with its former directors Anna Dvornikova and Stas Khirman has been resolved amicably. In connection with this resolution, I would like to express our sincere regret to Ms. Anna Dvornikova, Mr. Stas Khirman, Ms. Vera Shokina and the whole AmBAR community that this …
MobiDengi, a major Russian electronic payment service provider, has teamed up with MasterCard to launch ‘MasterCard*Card2Day,’ a pre-paid virtual card that enables online purchases worldwide. The card is available to any subscriber of Russia’s three main mobile operators: Beeline (a brand of Vimpelcom), Megafon, and MTS. A convenient feature of the MasterCard*Card2Day card is that …
MobiDengi and MasterCard make virtual payment card available to Russian mobile subscribers Read More
Russia’s MTS and Channel One have joined forces with Disney to create an interactive TV service aimed at children. According to MTS, it is integrated into the series ‘After School’ and combines the capabilities of mobile internet and TV.
Оpera Software, whose mobile browser stands as the most popular in Russia, is about to launch a paid musical offer designed specifically for the Russian market. Artem Zinoviev, Opera’s Development Director for Russia and the CIS, told the Russian business daily Vedomosti that the new service will be made available for approximately 150 rubles, or …
During a US-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission meeting held on October 30, foreign and Russian experts debated approaches that the participants thought would be beneficial for Russia to choose in its drive for innovation. Marchmont CEO Kendrick White took part as an American expert. He shares his impressions and his ideas on how to improve what seems …
Kendrick White on Russia’s modernization: “We cannot wait another twenty years” Read More
Earlier this month, Gvidi, a mobile app dedicated to restaurants, cafés and bars across Russia and neighboring countries, achieved the number one ranking in the Food and Drinks category of the Russian language App Store just “hours” after its release, and has remained among the fifteen most popular free iOS apps. Gvidi is a “smart” helper …
Moscow – Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) and QIWI Limited, a leading provider of payment services in Russia, have formed a strategic alliance to introduce a digital wallet that will enable consumers to access a wide variety of electronic payment options. The wallet builds on the existing, successful relationship between Visa and QIWI, the leading provider of …
Visa and QIWI form strategic alliance to develop electronic payments Read More
Last month, Yandex.Dengi (Yandex.Money), the electronic currency division of the Russian search giant Yandex, started testing a smartphone-based bank card payment terminal in Moscow taxis, in partnership with SellbyCell, a specialized solution provider. This new payment method, named ‘Yandex Kassa,’ is available to any Visa or MasterCard card holders, and does not require users to …
Russian Internet, telecom and bank giants experiment with Square-like payment systems Read More
Leading Russian venture fund Almaz Capital announced earlier this week that its portfolio company Vyatta, a Belmont, California-based publisher of software security and networking solutions, has been sold to Brocade, a major provider of network solutions. Almaz had acquired a minority stake in the company – less than 25%, PR Director Anna Goryacheva told East-West …
Investors now have a new instrument to identify and assess startups: the Russian Startup Index (RSI), which was tested for the first time last week at the Open Innovations international forum in Moscow. The index rates each startup with a combination of letters, from “AAA” (most attractive) to “D” (expected to fail), in a way …
New rating helps investors identify Russia’s best startups Read More
