Federal retailer Euroset announced the launch of telecommunications services in Togliatti - IP telephony and prepaid Internet access. According to market participants, the company will have to compete primarily with federal IP operators, and Euroset will not be able to displace fixed-line operators operating in the same segment. Yesterday, the federal retailer Euroset announced the start of a project to develop IP telephony in Tolyatti. The company explained that these services will be implemented through the sale of universal IP telephony cards to Euroset. According to the head of the intellectual services department of Elektrosvyaz CJSC (the licensed telecom operator that implements the technical side of the project is part of the Euroset holding - Kommersant) Ivan Zhislin, telephone cards allow you to “link them to a specific telephone number when calling from which will not require entering a PIN code": "They are also equipped with a memory in which you can store up to 10 numbers, which ultimately speeds up long-distance dialing." The company emphasized that Euroset stores in Tolyatti will still have cards from other participants in the IP telephony market. “Our advantage is a large retail network, with the help of which it is convenient to sell many services and quite successfully,” explained company press secretary Ochir Mandzhikov.
Euroset Group of Companies - the main activities are retail trade in cell phones, digital cameras, DECT phones, personal audio, accessories, connections to telecom operators. Currently, the company's retail network is represented by 5,200 stores in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia and Azerbaijan. In the 1st quarter of 2007, Euroset's turnover amounted to $1.3 billion.

Today in Togliatti there are such federal IP operators as Corbina Telecom, Arctel, Zebra Telecom, however, according to experts, the leaders in terms of IP traffic volumes are still the local telecom operators VolgaTelecom and AIST. “An option such as IP telephony is available to all 45 thousand subscriber numbers (about 200 thousand users - Kommersant), and technologically our call is easier to implement - there is no need to enter a long PIN code when calling from a city network,” - explained the AIST company. According to analysts' forecasts, competition will develop between federal market participants, whose positions (with the exception of Arktel - Kommersant) are far from leading.
According to leading J&P analyst Alexander Shugol, this is a logical step for the retailer, since “having such an extensive sales network, the company uses it to the maximum.” Experts note that Euroset is in an advantageous position: the company does not bear the cost of dealer fees, which is about 15-20% of the cost of a universal card. “For Euroset, selling IP telephony cards is a good tool for increasing its income. As an image step, it is not of great importance - the image of this network is formed through massive advertising and scandalous actions,” says Viktor Galenko, an expert at the Finam - Information Technologies fund, estimating the total income of operators in the VoIP segment for the past year at $320 million, turnover corresponding companies in Tolyatti in the amount of $2 million.
Elena Kolycheva

Kommersant (Samara) No. 92 from 05/30/2007

Euroset is eager to join the communications industry