| The latest technologies get a start in life at Svyaz-Expocomme The annual telecommunications exhibition Svyaz-Expocomm, which opened yesterday, traditionally pays the greatest attention to demonstrating the latest technologies and equipment. “This exhibition is one of the most authoritative in Russia. The telecommunications industry is developing at a very high pace, and Russia is one of the leading countries in the world in the development of technological services,” Russian Minister of Communications and Information Leonid Reiman said at the opening.
This year, mobile operators and content providers are particularly active in promoting services. In particular, MTS yesterday finally announced the commercial launch of mobile high-speed Internet access using GPRS technology. In test mode, this service has been available to its subscribers since the fall of 2000, and, as stated by Mikhail Khanov, director of product and service development, to date the number of MTS subscribers who have used it has reached 100 thousand. In September, MTS will also begin providing GPRS services -roaming between Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar and Novosibirsk. The VimpelCom company began commercial operation of GPRS in the Bee Line GSM network in Moscow last spring, the Moscow Megafon - in October last year.
“GPRS service is becoming popular. Therefore, it is not surprising that cellular companies are showing such interest in it,” says VimpelCom press service specialist Artem Minaev. According to him, GPRS services are now used by 62 thousand Bee Line GSM subscribers, in addition, about 20 thousand regional subscribers use them free of charge. It is available in 21 cities of Russia, GPRS roaming is carried out with the networks of 25 operators from 20 European countries, as well as the USA and Singapore.
In addition, MTS yesterday announced the start of sales of a service for sending multimedia messages, thereby, unlike competitors, refusing preliminary testing by its subscribers. For the first time this service became paid at Megafon (since December last year), in the Bee Line GSM network it is still free. The number of Bee Line users is now about 10 thousand. According to Mr. Minaev, MMS is not yet popular enough to charge money for it.
One of the leading suppliers of integrated telecommunications services, Comstar, presented its new network at the exhibition. The general director of the company, Tatyana Kostrova, said that commercial operation of a new generation packet multi-protocol transport network using MPLS technology will begin in June. The company intends to invest $9 million in its development. The network is being built on equipment from Riverstone Networks, Alcatel and Cisco Systems. Ms. Kostrova told the Vremya Novostei newspaper that there is currently a trend of growth in traffic for non-voice services, the income from which in the company’s turnover is 10%. According to her, Comstar’s annual turnover is $65 million and the operator spends about $10 million annually on the development of its network.
The Japanese Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, which supplies telephone and fax machines under the Panasonic brand to the Russian market, also announced its ambitious plans yesterday. Vice-president of the company's Moscow office, Motoki Masao, said that the market in Russia and the CIS is very promising and over the next five years, Panasonic intends to double sales in this region and bring it to $1 billion. “The modern market is developing rapidly and requires original solutions.” , he says. As part of the new global concept, the company implements the idea of “everything over IP”, allowing users to receive the services they need through data channels. To strengthen its position in the promising segment of cordless phones, Panasonic plans to completely update the range of DECT phones supplied to Russia this year, offering 12 new models. Nadezhda KOSTYUK |
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