Wireless Federation

Russian operator Comstar has announced that it has started building a wireless broadband network based on the 802.16e standard WiMAX technology in Armenia. The creation of the wireless broadband network will be carried out by internet services provider Cornet, which has a licence to use the 3.6-3.8 GHz frequency range in this country. The project aims at building 24 base stations and installing two data transmission nodes based on Cisco’s technology. They will connect the network in Armenia to the main internet channels. Data transmission will be possible via rented fibre-optic lines, radio bridges and radio relay channels. Comstar will use its WiMAX network to furnish high-speed internet access, multimedia content delivery, voice services, data transmission and VPNs for residential and corporate subscribers.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

Russian operator Comstar has signed a partnership with Cisco for the delivery of equipment for a new multi-service network in Ukraine. A Sitronics subsidiary, Kvazar Mikro, will be the subcontractor for the installation and launch of the network. In December 2007, Comstar completed the tender for equipment to build and modernize the backbone transportation network in Ukraine and city multi-service communications networks in Kiev and Odessa. Initially, the Russian telecommunications operator will install Cisco’s hub router and backbone router and also aggregation and network management equipment in centres in Kiev and Odessa, after which other cities will be added to the backbone infrastructure. The initiative is scheduled to be launched in Q2. Comstar plans to use the network to provide its private clients with triple-play services and its corporate clients with virtual private networks, telephony and high-speed broadband. By 2011, the number of subscribers is estimated to exceed 125,000 in Kiev and Odessa.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

Russian telecommunications operator Comstar has doubled its broadband internet subscriber base in Moscow year-on-year to 695,000 users at the end of 2007. Some 228,000 net new subscribers were added in Q4 alone, which is five times as many net additions as in Q4 2006. The 651,000 residential subscribers accounted for 94 percent of Comstar’s broadband subscriber base at year-end. The operator added 198,000 net new residential broadband subscribers in Q4, including over 66,000 new subscribers signed up by Russian carrier MGTS. An internet connection speed of 1 Mbps or more was chosen by 97 percent of the new broadband residential subscribers signed up during Q4. The number of pay-TV subscribers increased by 36,000 year-on-year to 119,4000 in Moscow at the end of 2007. According to Comstar, the increase in the subscriber base reflected the successful implementation of a revised broadband strategy. The number of broadband sales points augmented by 32 percent during 2007. MGTS subscribers are now offered internet access through telephony technical support teams. The number of broadband access points used by corporate subscribers in Moscow also doubled to 44,000 during 2007.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

Russian operator Comstar-UTS has partnered with Intel to roll out a mobile WiMAX network in Russia. They will initially focus on the Moscow region, launching the network by the end of 2008 using the IEEE 802.16e standard for the 2.5-2.7 Ghz range. The network will cover the whole city. Intel will provide the client technical devices with embedded WiMAX technology. Intel is currently developing embedded mobile WiMAX components for notebook PCs and mobile devices. By mid-2008, the company expects to launch its first embedded mobile WiMAX/Wi-Fi module, codenamed Echo Peak, with its Centrino processor technology. A product optimised for mobile internet devices with low power consumption, codenamed Baxter Peak, is also expected to be available next year.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

Russian telco Comstar UTS, part of the Sistema Group, has posted revenues of USD379.2 million in Q2 2007, up by 32% from the same period of last year. Comstar UTS’s consumer broadband unit Comstar-Direct reported a 42% year-on-year rise in residential high speed internet subscribers to 426,400 at the end of June 2007, up 4% on the previous quarter. At the end of Q2 the operator served 33% of Moscow’s broadband users. Comstar-Direct’s double-play internet access and IPTV service ‘Stream TV’ claimed 99,000 customers at the same date, up from around 25,000 a year earlier.

Comstar’s net profit in the three months ended 30 June 2007 under US GAAP dropped 71% year-on-year to USD17.2 million, whilst net income excluding a call option-related charge amounted to USD39.2 million, 33% down on Q2 2006. OIBDA rose by 51% to USD173.2 million, while the OIBDA margin stood at 45.7% versus 40.1% a year earlier; operating profit grew 54% to USD135.7 million. The company’s management reported that the financial results were affected by a rise in the effective income tax rate, which occurred after Comstar UTS used its proceeds from an IPO in the fourth quarter of 2006. Furthermore, taxable profit decreased due to a lower dollar exchange rate.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
 

Moscow-based fixed line operator Comstar UTS has opened a branch in St Petersburg, Digital Media Asia reports. Comstar acquired smaller telco Astelit in June 2006, and says it has now completed the first stage of a next generation network (NGN) based on Astelit’s network in the city, and will fully integrate the subsidiary’s operations into its own. The company added that it will continue to focus on corporate clients in Moscow and St Petersburg, as well as expanding services available to existing Astelit clients.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

Russian telco Comstar UTS has posted a rise of 32% in its revenues to USD328.9 million in the first quarter of 2007, up from USD249.8 million a year ago. Quarterly OIBDA was up by 27% year-on-year to USD130.4 million (USD102.3 million in 1Q 2006), and operating profit climbed 23% to USD92.8 million (USD75.4 million). Net income rose 12% year-on-year from USD39.1 million to USD43.7 million. Growth was driven by high customer demand for unlimited tariff plans introduced by Comstar’s subsidiary MGTS, a positive impact of the introduction of the Calling Party Pays (CPP) call tariff framework, take-up of new broadband and double-play telephony/internet offers at internet unit Comstar Direct, as well as the continuing appreciation of the ruble against the US dollar. Group capital expenditure increased by 51% year-on-year to USD79.6 million, with investments largely focused on progressing network digitalisation and developing next generation infrastructure at MGTS, as well as the upgrading of information systems throughout the group, and TV content acquisition by the ISP division. Comstar Direct saw turnover rise to USD25.3 million in the three months to the end of March 2007, from USD20.2 million in 1Q 2006. Its number of residential broadband subscribers increased by 39% y-o-y to 398,000, whilst double-play customers crossed the 100,000 mark in the period; average monthly revenue per ADSL line was USD20.3.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

Russian communications provider Comstar – United TeleSystems (Comstar-UTS) saw its revenues and net income rise in the quarter ended 31 March. Group revenues (including MGTS) rose 32 percent to USD 328.9 million from USD 249.8 in the year-ago period. The growth was driven by high customer demand for the unlimited tariff plans introduced by MGTS, the positive impact of the introduction of ‘Calling Party Pays’ (CPP) scheme, the healthy development of the Comstar Direct broadband and double-play offers and the continuing appreciation of the Ruble against the US dollar. OIBDA was up 27 percent to USD 130.4 million versus USD 102.3 million, and operating profit totalled USD 92.8 million, up 23 percent from USD 75.4 million in Q1 2006. Comstar’s net income went up 12 percent to USD 43.7 million compared with USD 39.1 million.

Group capital expenditure increased by 51 percent to USD 79.6 million, which was comfortably in line with the group’s guidance for total capital expenditure of no more than USD 350 million this year. The investments primarily comprised the ongoing digitalisation process and development of Next Generation Network infrastructure at MGTS, as well as the upgrading of information systems throughout the group, and TV content acquisition at Comstar Direct.

Comstar’s internet arm Comstar Direct saw its revenue rise to USD 25.3 million from USD 20.2 million in the year-ago period. The number of residential broadband subscribers increased by 39 percent year-on-year to 398,000. The number of double-play subscribers increased to over 100,000, whilst the dial-up subscriber base continued to decline. Broadband revenues from residential subscribers went up 36 percent, whilst double-play revenues increased by over five times. Average revenue per ADSL line (ARPL) grew to USD 20.3.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

Totaltele writes…United TeleSystems JSC (”Comstar”), a combined telecommunications operator in Russia and the CIS, Thursday announced the appointment of Sergey Pridantsev as President and Chief Executive Officer with effect from June 13.

Pridantsev is the former General Director of JSC CenterTelecom, a provider of fixed-line telecommunications services in the Central Federal District of Russia.

Alexander Goncharuk, President of Sistema, said,”We are pleased to welcome Mr. Pritantsev to our management team. Over the past year the management of Comstar has implemented a number of significant changes - they have reorganized the corporate structure, integrated the companies into a combined group and made a number of large-scale acquisitions.

“This year, the management is focused on increasing the profitability of the company, extracting maximum synergies from the unique combination of businesses and expanding further into the regions. We are confident that the appointment Mr. Pritantsev’s who has a broad experience in the Russian telecommunications market will help us to achieve these goals”.

Sergey Pridantsev was born on August 18, 1967, in Moscow, Russia. From 2002 until recently, Mr. Pridantsev worked for CenterTelecom where he consecutively held the following positions: Adviser to General Director, Deputy General Director and Commercial Director, General Director. From 1997 to 2002 he held a number of positions at Lucent Technologies, including Head of Customer Service in Moscow and Moscow region, First Deputy General Director and Sales Director for Russia and the CIS.

From January 1995 to May 1997, Mr. Pridantsev served as a technical adviser to Hewlett-Packard (Moscow). From 1994 to 1995, he worked for Astelit, a Russian fixed-line telecommunications company.

Prior to that, Sergey Pridantsev served as Head of the Research Laboratory for transport and technological robotics at the Moscow Automobile and Road Institute. Mr. Pridantsev graduated from the Moscow Automobile and Road Institute (1993), Stanford Executive Institute (2000) and the Russian Academy of Public Service under the President of the Russian Federation (2004).

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
 

Totaltele writes…United TeleSystems JSC (”Comstar”), a combined telecommunications operator in Russia and the CIS, Thursday announced the appointment of Sergey Pridantsev as President and Chief Executive Officer with effect from June 13.

Pridantsev is the former General Director of JSC CenterTelecom, a provider of fixed-line telecommunications services in the Central Federal District of Russia.

Alexander Goncharuk, President of Sistema, said,”We are pleased to welcome Mr. Pritantsev to our management team. Over the past year the management of Comstar has implemented a number of significant changes - they have reorganized the corporate structure, integrated the companies into a combined group and made a number of large-scale acquisitions.

“This year, the management is focused on increasing the profitability of the company, extracting maximum synergies from the unique combination of businesses and expanding further into the regions. We are confident that the appointment Mr. Pritantsev’s who has a broad experience in the Russian telecommunications market will help us to achieve these goals”.

Sergey Pridantsev was born on August 18, 1967, in Moscow, Russia. From 2002 until recently, Mr. Pridantsev worked for CenterTelecom where he consecutively held the following positions: Adviser to General Director, Deputy General Director and Commercial Director, General Director. From 1997 to 2002 he held a number of positions at Lucent Technologies, including Head of Customer Service in Moscow and Moscow region, First Deputy General Director and Sales Director for Russia and the CIS.

From January 1995 to May 1997, Mr. Pridantsev served as a technical adviser to Hewlett-Packard (Moscow). From 1994 to 1995, he worked for Astelit, a Russian fixed-line telecommunications company.

Prior to that, Sergey Pridantsev served as Head of the Research Laboratory for transport and technological robotics at the Moscow Automobile and Road Institute. Mr. Pridantsev graduated from the Moscow Automobile and Road Institute (1993), Stanford Executive Institute (2000) and the Russian Academy of Public Service under the President of the Russian Federation (2004).

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News