Russian government steps up investment in satellite broadband to remote regions
Broadband has grown rapidly in recent years as incumbent and alternative telecom operators upgrade infrastructure as part of a general trend of migrating beyond voice-centric offerings to voice, broadband and convergence services. The updated Russia – Broadband Market Insights, Analysis and Forecasts reports provides data and market analysis on recent developments in the Russian fixed-line and wireless broadband sectors, including forecasts to 2020.
The relatively poor quality or lack of existing infrastructure has resulted in a variety of technology platforms deployed for broadband including xDSL, cable and FttH/FttB. Wireless solutions such as WiFi and WiMAX garnered much interest initially, though one of the main players Yota is abandoning WiMAX in favour of LTE. The cooperation of three major mobile network operators and Rostelecom to deploy long-term evolution on Yota’s infrastructure will be a catalyst for significant mobile broadband uptake in coming years. Nevertheless, recent WiMAX licenses in a number of regional areas have shown that the sector remains of interest to investors.
Broadband diffusion is providing the basis on which a promising internet society is emerging, with much potential for future commercial, government and social services. This report offers a concise overview of Russia’s rapidly developing broadband market in 2011, providing an overview of major players, technology platforms, statistics and broadband subscriber forecasts for 2010-2013 and 2020.
Despite the increasing footprint of 3G and LTE across regional Russia, there remain a number of remote areas which are underserved, containing an estimated two million potential broadband subscribers. In 2009 the government initiated a programme to provide affordable satellite internet in these areas, committing RUB500 million during 2010 in designing the network which would provide up to 15Mb/s. In mid-2011 the government approved a RUB3.1 billion continuation project to develop the satellite infrastructure using a sole contractor, Rostelecom subsidiary RTComm.ru. The service is expected to be available in 2013 following the launch of four K-band satellites and the distribution of more than one million subsidised end-user terminals.
Key developments:
MGTS migrated DSL subs in Moscow to GPON, expecting 400,000 GPON subscribers by end-2011; MTS and VimpelCom invest RUB2 billion on 4,500km fibre infrastructure; MegaFon collaborates with utility EuroSibEnergo to use existing power lines to extend its fibre-optic network into Siberia; regulator announces winners for regional WiMAX services; government approves RUB3.1 billion investment to provide satellite broadband to remote areas; operator data to June 2011.
Companies covered in this report include:
Synterra Telecom, Comstar, Volga Telecom, VimpelCom, Summa Telecom, MetroMAX, Comstar, Yota, Virgin Connect, Enforta, Golden Telecom.
For more information on Russia’s telecoms market, see the following reports:
Russia – Broadband Market Insights, Analysis and Forecasts;
Russia – Key Statistics and Telecommunications Market;
Russia – Digital Media Market – Overview, Statistics and Analysis;
Russia – Mobile Market – Overview and Statistics.
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Tagged in: Broadband, Russia, Satellite broadband
