COMNEWS draws up the results of Broadband Russia Forum 2013
The 3rd International Broadband Russia Forum 2013 organized by COMNEWS took place on November 27-28, 2013 in Renaissance Moscow Monarch Centre Hotel. The event was endorsed by Roskomnadzor, Rossvyaz, LTE Union, FTTH Council Europe, UMTS Forum, Wi-Fi Alliance, International Telecommunications Academy, NGMN Alliance, GSA Association, Institute of the Information Society, Coordination Center for TLD RU, National Association of Household Information and Communication Networks (NADIKS), Association of Regional Telecom Operators, Wireless Ukraine, ASTRA Association of Strategic Outsourcing, Russian Association for Electronic Communications (RAEC), Moscow Office of PMI, GLONASS/GNSS - Forum.
Sponsorship support to Broadband Russia Forum 2013 was provided by KOMKOR JSC (AKADO brand), TransTeleCom Company CJSC, Microsoft, Ericsson, Huawei, Infinera, Cisco, Sagemcom, 2test, Alcatel-Lucent, Aruba networks, Kontakt Telecom Company, PROTEI LLC, Peter-Service CJSC.
The plenary session ‘Russia’s place in the global broadband’ was kicked off by Deputy Minister of Communications and Mass Media Dmitry Alkhazov. He pointed that the consumption pattern of Russian telecom subscribers is sweepingly trending towards data services. “In the nearest future we will make the 1,800 MHz band available for the LTE services, and we will also introduce the principles of technological neutrality”, Alhazov said. Other speakers at the plenary session included Deputy Head of Rossvyaz Igor Chursin and Head of Innovations Directorate of the Research Center with the Government of the Russian Federation Yury Ammosov.
The plenary session was followed by a round table entitled ‘Digital equalization: the concept for developing broadband services in Russia by 2018’. According to Vice President of TransTeleCom Company Svetlana Shamzon, “The need for high-quality content among Russian users will be growing year after year”. MobileTeleSystems’ Director for Fixed and TV business Development Dmitry Bagdasaryan believes that to further develop the broadband market, the regulator doesn’t need to stimulate competition, it should simply provide a working environment for carriers – ensure non-discriminatory access to telecommunications infrastructure, and so on. Participants of the round table included Executive Director of the LTE Union Gulnara Khasianova, Head of Wired Internet Marketing Department in VimpelCom Sergey Dobryakov, President of AKADO Group Viktor Koresh, CEO of ER-Telecom Holding Andrey Semerikov and Microsoft Russia Sales Director for Communications & Media Andrey Shipitkov.
At the Forum, Sagemcom solemnly delivered the millionth “golden” router to its partner since 2011 Rostelecom. Sаgemcom thanked Rostelecom’s delegation for their confidence in Sagemcom products. The award was handed by Jean-Luc Guerit, Vice President for International Operator Sales and Dmitry Miroshnikov, Head of Sagemcom in Russia and CIS, to Senior Vice President – Commercial Director of Rostelecom Larisa Tkachuk and Executive Director – Head of Consumer Business Natalia Bratchikova.
Time after lunch was dedicated to wireless networks of the future. Deputy Chairman of APEC Telecommunications and Information Working Group (APEC TEL WG) Andrey Mukhanov told the audience about implementation of APEC’s strategy for broadband expansion in the 2020 perspective. According to him, APEC’s strategic action plan aims to: take ICT to the stage where it would give a new economic growth spurt; fuel social and economic development through ICT; ensure high level of safety and trust to the ICT, and also enhance regional economic integration. This session also featured the following speakers: Microsoft Russia Business Development Manager, Solution Platform, Alexander Gvozdev, President of the Association of Regional Telecom Operators Yury Dombrovsky, Leading Key Projects Manager from Huawei Technologies Marat Nuriev, CTO of 2test Danila Gubankov, Cisco Systems Business Development Manager Yulia Andrianova, Manager for Technical Solutions, Ericsson, Yury Yaremenko, and President of Intertax Kasimir Voitkevich.
The first day of the Forum ended with a round table: ‘Outlook for the market of fixed wireless broadband access in Russia’ featuring delegates from Intel, Cisco Systems, Trivon Group, Multinet Group, VimpelCom, CTI, Alcatel-Lucent, Sagemcom, Intertax and KOMKOR.
That same night, a reception was held to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Internet in Russia. The event was endorsed by AKADO Telecom, TransTeleCom Company, Sistema JSFC and Coordination Center for TLD RU. Editor-in-Chief of COMNEWS Group Leonid Konik addressed a welcome speech to the guests of the reception: “In 1993, the first citizen of the USSR took part in the Global computer conference, and we gathered here today to celebrate this date.” Leonid Konik unveiled a special issue of Standard Magazine dedicated to the anniversary of the Internet in Russia. The gathering was also addressed by Anatoly Klesov, the first Internet user in the USSR, honorary founder and member of the academic and consulting council of Galectin Therapeutics Inc., Oleg Smirnov, Board Chairman of Institute of Automated Systems, Vladimir Serdyuk, CEO of IKS-Group, Igor Marchenko, former Commercial director of Infocom JV, Vice President of InformInvestGroup, Vladimir Teremetsky - former Director General of Sovam Teleport, Anatoly Voronov – former General director of Glas-Internet, former President of Glasnet Association of Computer Network Users, Dmitry Burkov – Board Chairman of the Foundation for Assistance for Internet Technologies and Infrastructure Development (FAITID), Andrey Kolesnikov – director of Coordination Center for TLD RU, Semen Musher – Executive Director of the Russian Foundation for Technological Development, and Yury Gugel – director of Informika Saint Petersburg branch.
The second day of the Forum opened with a session dedicated to broadband network infrastructure – fixed access. CEO of Net By Net Holding (MegaFon JSC) Andrey Batanov spoke about the role of fixed broadband in a Big Three operator’s strategy. He said that fixed and mobile markets will be growing at the same pace in the next few years, although ARPU from fixed services will be going down due to a highly competitive environment. “Taken into account global evidence and current market situation, we view fixed broadband as an addition to support our mobile business”, Andrey Batanov said. The topic was developed by: Adviser to the President of TransTeleCom Company Vitaly Shub, Network Solution Architect, Ericsson, Nikolay Mikhailov, Board member, Marketing and Business Development Director of MGTS Dmitry Kulakovsky, Product Marketing Manager of Alcatel-Lucent Els Baert and Infinera Director of Solutions and Technology Geoff Bennet.
The next session addressed mobile broadband. Nikolay Vasiliev – Head of Fixed and Mobile Services, Department of Terrestrial Services of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) spoke about possibilities of using spectrum resource in the range lower than 800 MHz for mobile services and digital broadcasting. He was followed by Deputy CEO for Innovative Technologies of IcomInvest Valery Tikhvinsky, Deputy Director of Wireless Department of Huawei Russia Dmitry Konarev, Head of lab at Radio Research and Development Institute Vadim Poskakukhin, and Deputy Director of Engineering and Technology Department of Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Network (RTRBN) Sergey Alyabiev. “Using RTRBN’s infrastructure, operators will have an optimal solution for such tasks as, provision of telecom services, roll out of wireless networks, Internet access, maximum engagement of users to government information services”, said Sergey Alyabiev.
The discussion about broadband infrastructure was resumed after lunch. NADIKS Vice President for Legal Affairs Mikhail Pashkov emphasized that depriving operators of ownership rights for telecommunication networks significantly curtails their rights, hinders asset accounting and renders it impossible to manipulate networks as they see fit. Also, according to Pashkov, such situation creates grounds for property ownership disputes. “Regulator needs to address the issue of telecom networks’ property registration ASAP”, he said. This session also featured such speakers as CEO of STEC.COM Oleg Kuts, CEO of SetTelecom Sergey Pekhterev, Head of Traffic Management and Broadband unit at PROTEI Yury Senchenko, Software Development Director of Peter-Servis Valery Sysik and Senior Engineer of StoneSoft Nikita Durov.
The final session of the Forum was dedicated to broadband applications and services. Its speakers included: Head of TV Content Department of VimpelCom Marina Levochkina, Head of Information and Analysis Center of Russian TV and Radio Broadcasting Network Alexander Kalin, independent expert Alexey Pavlutz, and finally, Executive Director of J’son & Partners Consulting Sergey Shavkunov.
Broadband Russia Forum 2013 also featured an exhibition with the following exponents: Ericsson, Huawei, Infinera, Aruba networks, Circuit Exchange, 2test, ImpulseTelecom, Т8, CTI, Stonesoft, AudioCodes Ltd., ALS & ТЕК, and Smart Network Distribution. More than 300 delegates from 15 countries of the world attended the Forum over two days.
