Russian Telecom articles from February 2002

Russian Telecom archives from February 2002

Telecommunications spending by region, in billions.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Telecommunications Spending By Region, in Billions 2000 2004 US $609.2 $954 Western Europe $351.7 $496 Asia Pacific $345.4 $717 Eastern Europe $102.5 $167.1 Latin America $79 $157.1...

Nordea to fund expansion of Sonic Duo's telecom network. (Top Story).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... The Nordic region's largest bank, Nordea, said it was part of a group of banks and investors which would provide over $200 million in financing for the expansion of Russian operator Sonic Duo's telecom network. Nordea said other members of the...

TransTeleCom interconnects with Latvian Railways. (Russia).
February 1, 2002... TransTeleCom is building a fiber optic network along the country's rail infrastructure, has interconnected its network with that of the Latvian rail company. TransTeleCom also announced a wholesale contract with regional operator OAO Artelecom....

Volga seeks alliance with Smarts. (Russia).
February 1, 2002... Volga Telecom, soon to become the third-largest fixed-line operator in Russia in a series of industry mergers, will seek affiance with Smarts, a regional cellular company. Such talks and mergers are happening across the industry as Russia...

Megafon to operate in Central Russia. (Russia).
February 1, 2002... Megafon, the mobile group whose main shareholders include Telia, Sonera and Telecominvest, has won a license to operate in the Central Russia. First Deputy Telecoms Minister Yuri Pavlenko reportedly gave the operator the green light at the end...

Urals predicts profit after consolidation. (Russia).
February 1, 2002... Uralsvyazinform, a regional telephone company, said it expected a net profit this year of 656 million roubles once it and other companies in the region are consolidated into one. The consolidation of the company, which operates in the eastern...

Baltic Communications Ltd. announces Internet peering connection to St. Petersburg Internet exchange. (Russia).
February 1, 2002... Baltic Communications Ltd. (BCL), a competitive communications service provider in St Petersburg, announced the launch of its link to the largest Internet traffic peering point in North-West Russia, SPB-IX which is operated by RIPN, the Russian...

E-Russia hopes to fet Russia into IT. (Russia).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov gave final approval to Electronic Russia, a much-hyped, EUR2.9 billion program to encourage the country to use information technology. E-Russia includes putting tax forms online, installing computers in...

Siemens to supply GSM 900/1800 equipment. (Belarus).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Siemens has won the equipment tender for Belarus's second GSM-standard mobile network According to the terms of the tender, Siemens is to supply GSM 900/1800 infrastructure equipment for the second mobile network in Belarus. Siemens will...

Bosnia and Herzegovina get new GSM codes. (Bosnia).
February 1, 2002... Acting as a single regulator for Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Communication Regulatory Agency (CRA) has introduced new GSM codes. In the agreement with the operators, the CRA has decided that individual operators will be given specific codes. JP...

HT signs GPRS Roaming deal with Slovenia. (Croatia).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Hrvatski Telekom, a national telephone operator, has signed a GPRS roaming deal with neighboring Slovenia's state-owned Mobitel. GPRS (general packet radio service) bridges the gap between the current, relatively slow GSM mobile telephony...

Hrvatski Telecom nearly doubles mobile subscribers. (Croatia).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Hrvatski Telekom has reported it had about one million mobile subscribers by the end of 2001--significant growth from the 550,000 subscribers that the company posted at the end of 2000. Hrvatski Telekom is majority-owned by Deutsche Telekom,...

Contactel signs data deal with Equant. (CZECH).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Contactel, a data and fixed-line carrier, has signed a cooperation agreement with the French high-speed communications networks operator Equant. Contactel, a joint venture of the Danish firm TDC and Czech Ceske Radiokomunikace, said in a...

Cesky Mobil launches GPRS service. (CZECH).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Cesky Mobil has launched GRPS services through its Oskar mobile network. The service, which allows for high-speed data transfer, provides an alternative form of Internet connection and access to WAP and corporate computer networks. The GRPS...

Government delays third UMTS license. (CZECH).
February 1, 2002... The Czech cabinet has agreed to delay awarding the third license for third-generation mobile phones until the operators' appetite grows, Transport and Communications Minister Jaromir Schling said. "We are not hurrying with the third license,"...

Operators demand changes to telecommunications act. (CZECH).
February 1, 2002... Alternative telecoms operators in the Czech Republic began a pressure campaign on the government, criticizing delays in the telecoms market liberalization and inaccuracies in the current Telecommunications Act. The campaign is aimed at...

RadioMobil resumes interconnection with GTS. (Czech).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... RadioMobil, a mobile operator, has resumed interconnection for alternative fixed-line carrier GTS, after being ordered to by the Czech Telecom Office. RadioMobil interrupted interconnection with GTS in early February because GTS had stopped...

Eesti's profit substantially smaller than expected. (Estonia).
February 1, 2002... Eesti Telekom has announced its net profit in 2001 totaled EUR50 million, compared with EUR58.5-60 million expected by analysts. Total revenues were up eight percent over the previous year to EUR275 million, while EBITDA declined seven percent...

Eesti says market share has stabilized. (Estonia).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Eesti Telekom said its fixed-line unit Eesti Telefon, which lost its monopoly status on January 1, 2001, had kept its market share stable by end-December compared to the previous quarter. Eesti said in a statement accompanying its full-year...

Estonia's expects mobile penetration to rise. (Estonia).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Eesti Telekom said it expected the country's mobile phone penetration rate to rise to between 58 percent and 60 percent by the end of 2002 from 52 percent at the end of 2001. "We see the mobile penetration rising to 58-60 percent and we...

No major changes to 3G licenses. (Estonia).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Estonia's new government does not intend to make changes in principle to the plan for issuing third-generation mobile communications licenses currently under preparation. Edvard Saarma, head of the communications department at the...

Tele2 installs new Siemens communications exchange. (Latvia).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Tele2, a mobile operator, has began installation of a new Siemens communications exchange, which is expected to raise network capacity and improve communication safety, said Agnese Ekmane, a spokeswoman for Tele2. Ekmane further said that the...

Omnitel says turnover up43 percent. (Lithuania).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Omnitel, a cellular operator in the Baltic States, said its turnover for the full-year 2001 increased an annual 43 percent, beating expectations. The firm said in a statement that its 2001 turnover totalled $124.7 million, while the number of...

Tele2's coverage hits 80 percent. (Lithuania).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Tele2 has secured 80 percent coverage for Lithuanian residents and intends to make its services available to 87 percent of the country's population in the spring. Company spokesman Justas Vaitkevicius said the operator is planning to increase...

Krakow to get electrical Internet access. (Poland).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Residents of Krakow will be able to plug into the Internet through their electric sockets starting next month, following an agreement between the Krakow regional electricity company, ZEK, and Pattern Communications. The system will use power...

PSE to create telecoms group. (Poland).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... National power grid Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne (PSE) has announced its intention to create a telecoms group to compete with incumbent TPSA. All of PSE's telecoms interests are to be merged to create one large telecoms group. PSE's...

Broadband satellite coming to Poland. (Poland).
February 1, 2002... Broadband satellite data transmission, which is just starting to emerge in Western Europe, may soon be available in Poland, industry insiders say. Eutelsat, a satellite operator, said it is focusing on broadband Internet this year, along with...

TPSA sees tough year in fixed-line business. (Poland).
February 1, 2002... Telekomunikacja Polska expects Poland's economic slowdown to keep its fixed-line business mostly stagnant this year, but its mobile operations should continue strong growth. During a conference call with analysts, TPSA CEO Marek Jozefiak said...

Slovak Railways enters telecoms with Cisco kit. (Slovakia).
February 1, 2002... Cisco Systems has won a contract to provide infrastructure to the state-owned railway company of the Slovak Republic. Slovak Railways (ZSR) plans to transform itself into a telecoms service provider Cisco will provide its 12000 series and 7206...

EuroTel Bratislava reports a 91.2 percent increase in mobile subscribers in 2001. (Slovakia).
February 1, 2002... EuroTel Bratislava, a mobile operator, reported a market share of 43.9 percent and an active subscriber base of 942,615 at the end of 2001, a 91.2 percent rise from 493,032 customers at the end of 2000. Its GSM service had 708,834 pre-paid...

Slovakia ranks 31 on list of world Internet users. (Slovakia).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Slovakia is number 31 on a list ranking the size of the world's Internet user communities, as it claims only 12.96 percent of its population use the Net. The list found that the US and Iceland had the most online users with between 60 and 70...

Government set to shed stake in UMC. (Ukraine).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... The Ukraine's State Property Fund is set to shed a 25 percent stake in GSM 900/1800 provider Ukrainian Mobile Communications (UMC). UMC's current shareholders are the national telecoms company Urktelecom, with 51 percent, and Denmark's TDC Tele...

Legislation would end incoming call fees. (Ukraine).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... New amendments to the Ukraine's Communication Law could ban fees on incoming cellphone calls. But carriers in the country say adoption of such rules will have an "extremely negative impact" on the wireless industry. JV Ukrainian Mobile...

Conax protects Ukrainian access. (Ukraine).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Conax, the Norwegian digital TV (DTV) conditional access technology provider, has signed a contract with Ukrainian Volia Cable to provide conditional access to Volia's cable network in Kiev. Volia Cable will be one of the first cable operators...

Between 0.5-2 million Ukrainians are online. (Ukraine).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Between 0.5 and two million Ukrainians are Internet users, according to a recent Ukrtelecom report. In addition, the total 2001 annual revenue of all communications companies working in the Ukraine was up 22 percent at EUR1.95 billion in...