On 26-27 November 2015, Holiday Inn Moscow Lesnaya Hotel successfully hosted the Forum “Broadband Russia – Next Generation Broadband Network Development in Russia”, organized by COMNEWS.
The event attracted more than 300 ICT players. It was endorsed by the Federal Agency of Communications (Rossvyaz), the Russian National Association of Strategic Outsourcing (ASTRA), the International Telecommunications Academy (MAC), the National Association of House Communications and Information Networks (NADIKS), the GLONASS/GNSS Forum Association, the Association of Regional Telecom Operators (ARTO), ) and the Association of Internet Developers.
The platinum sponsor war ZTE Corporation, the silver sponsor – Huawei, the bronze sponsors – Alcatel-Lucent, Sagemcom and Rotek. The coffee breaks were sponsored by Kron, the sessions were sponsored by MOYO. Broadband Russia Forum 2015 was held with the participation of Viavi, OS Group, Smotreshka, SUPERTEL and Level 3 Communications.
In 2015, the traditional forum program included the grand awards ceremony for the leaders of ICT industry COMNEWS AWARDS (26 November) and the 3rd International Conference “Voice 2015 – Future of VoIP traffic in Russia & CIS. Transit & Retail” (27 November). There was also a common exhibition area for demonstrating solutions and networking.
The first plenary session started with a welcome speech delivered by Dmitriy Alkhazov, Russian Deputy Minister of Telecom and Mass Communications. Deputy Head of Rossvyaz Igor Chursin welcomed the audience on behalf of the Federal Agency of Communications. Mark Krivosheev, Chief Scientist Officer at the Radio Research and Development Institute (NIIR), told about the historical breakthroughs in the development of digital TV broadcasting. The new strategic action plan for the APEC Telecommunications and Information Working Group (APEC TEL WG) for 2016-2020 was described by Andrey Mukhanov, Adviser to the Russian Minister of Telecom and Mass Communications and Chairman of the APEC TEL WG.
The next topic at the session was the contribution of ZTE Corporation into the development of broadband access technologies; this report was made by Tigran Pogosyan, Senior Vice President of ZTE Communication Technologies, Ltd. in Russia. Svetlana Shamzon, Adviser to the President for Marketing and Strategy at Company TransTeleCom (TTK), gave information about the broadband market’s development in Russia in 2010-2015 and the main market trends.
Key MBB trends and drivers were covered by Lidia Varukina, Head of Technology at Nokia Networks, Eastern Europe. Dmitriy Kulakovskiy, Marketing and Business Development Director and Member of Board of Moscow City Telephone Network (MGTS), gave some information about the role Wi-Fi plays in the development of operator services. Dmitry Konarev, Senior MBB Expert at Huawei, delivered a report “The road to MBB 2020”, speaking about the results of the international MBBF15, which recently ended in Hong Kong.
The following delegates were present at the round table about digital equality: Olga Makarova, Director of Internet and Channel Resources Department, Сarrier Business Development Unit, Corporate Center, MTS Group; Konstantin Semenov, CMO, Miranda-media; Dmitry Miroshnikov, Chairman of the Board, ROTEK NPK; Tatyana Mokhova, CEO, Edinstvo (from Norilsk); Dmitry Konarev from Huawei.They discussed the real speeds of the “social” internet; the new initiatives and broadband projects in the regions of Russia, including Crimea, the Arctic region and the Far East; the government’s role and the current state of the project to bridge the digital divide; private operators’ chances to access the broadband infrastructure financed by the universal communication service fund; the role of local carriers; the tools and technologies of “the last mile”, etc.
The second session of Broadband Russia Forum 2015 (the first day) took part after lunch; it was moderated by Olga Makarova from MTS and dedicated to innovations in the architecture, technologies and business models of broadband network development. Olga Makarova made an introductory visionary report “How to catch a wave by the destructive force of innovations?”. Another report entitled “Network Intelligence & Agility for Operational Efficiency, New Technologies - Smarter Solutions” was delivered by Osman Erkan, CEO of Kron Telecommunication Technologies. Dmitry Zuyev, Commercial Director of OS Group, spoke on the topic “Import substitution in action: competitive Russian solutions to develop broadband access structure”, whereas Elena Filatova, Head of IT Research and Development Center at Orange Business Services, told about the implementation of the Russian OSS by OS Group in the international carrier’s network in Russia. Head of GR at Megafon Nikita Danilov described some infrastructure problems encountered by carriers, as well as legal and technological ways to solve them. Bertrand Pascual, Area Sales Manager at Sagemcom, and Dmitry Miroshnikov, Chairman of the Board at ROTEK NPK, spoke about gigabit access solutions: copper, fiber, cable and wireless, about wireless broadband access solutions for business centers and villages. Mikhail Nikolaev, CTO at the Russian branch of the international company and the leader of ICT monitoring Viavi Solutions, shared information about using microsamplers of JMEP to optimize PILES park and the expenses on testing networks. The participants discovered the innovative way of creating network mobile broadband access, thanks to Mikhail Ostoev, Core Network Solution Manager at ZTE Russia. Konstantin Lukin, Director of Telecommunication Projects at SUPERTEL, gave the characteristics of the Russian equipment for transport communication networks.
The discussion continued at the session “Services and content in broadband access networks” moderated by Gerasim Gadiyan, CEO at HD Media and President of HD Union. Mikhail Bykovskiy, Deputy Director of Regulatory and Radio Networks Department of the Russian Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications, described the views on OTT service regulation and its practical aspects. Head of CDN Team at MegaFon Alexey Sechkin characterized the operator’s view of prospects for cooperation with CDN providers. The opportunities of making profit from OTT television were enumerated by Zharkyn Tursynov, Business Development Director and Managing Partner of Lifestream (SmotrEshki). The presentation delivered by Andrey Ermurak, Account Director in Russia and CIS at Level 3 Communications, was entitled “Content in Global and Local Networks”. The report “3+1 illusion on IPTV” was made by Andrey Kholodnyy, CEO at MOYO TV.
The first day of Broadband Russia Forum 2015 was finally marked by the grand awards ceremony COMNEWS AWARDS, where the best ICT players received their prizes (please, refer to ComNews.ru, the publication dated 27 November 2015. http://www.comnews.ru/node/98609).
The forum’s second day started with an introductory report – a brief summary of the World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 (WRC-15) – delivered by Igor Gurianov, Deputy Head of Scientific and Technical Center of E-signal at FSUE NII Radio (NIIR)
The first session of the second day “Virtualization and clouds in telecom: technologies and business” was moderated by CEO of Inovetica Olga Ponomareva. Dmitry Timerkhanov, CTO at Alcatel-Lucent, presented his report about an integral approach in NFV deployments for telecom operators. The report “Cloud platforms of a telecom operator” was made by Mikhail Kozlov, Director of Design office of Business Platforms Developments at Rostelecom. The next report “Solutions of ZTE with use of the SDN technologies” was by Egor Goncharov, Datacom Solution Manager at ZTE Russia. The session closed after Senior Product Manager at Huawei Vitaly Lepekhin presented a final report “Modern platforms for creating a Carrier Cloud”
The global visionary concept of IoT as a new driver for telecommunications market development was discussed during the next session of Broadband Russia Forum 2015. This session was moderated by Dmitriy Kulakovskiy, Member of Board and Marketing and Business Development Director of Moscow City Telephone Network (MGTS). He presented an introductory report “Development of the concept «Clever house» in Russia”. Alexander Anufriyenko, Area Manager “Electronics. Internet of Things” at Skolkovo Fund explored the chances for IoT start-ups in Russia. Sergey Irevli, Business Market Products Development and Management Department Director at Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), offered his report “M2M/IoT vector: experience, vision, plans”. Another report, “Internet of Things: Standardization in 3GPP”, was presented by Alexey Anisimov, Head of Design Group at Nokia Networks. Dmitry Miroshnikov, Sagemcom’s representative in Russia, was on stage with a presentation “Solutions of IoT on the basis of the LoRa technology”.
The last round table was moderated by Grigory Nikolsky, Partner at Constanta Capital, and dedicated to the present and the future of broadband access networks and market development prospects at the background of slower operators’ income growth. The participants of the round table were Grigory Nikolsky himself, as well as Leonid Buslaev, Chairman of National Association of Housing Information and Communication Networks; Olga Matveeva, Business Development Manager at Kron Telecommunication Technologies; Vasily Levchik, Head of Standard and Legal Section at the Association of Regional Telecommunication Operators of Russia, and others. Together with the audience, they thought about ways to stay in business in a challenging economic climate, enumerated the main competitive advantages of a broadband access provider at the saturated market, explored the tools to attract and retain the users of broadband access services. They also exchanged views on the business prospects of broadband access providers in the markets of IoT services, pay TV, content, interactive services, payment systems and etc.
In their reports and backstage conversations, the speakers and guests of Broadband Russia Forum 2015 repeatedly highlighted that the conference was crucially important for the national ICT market. They noted that it had a very relevant program and high-profile speakers. The round tables and discussions, as they stated, were well-prepared and well-orchestrated.
While closing the forum, COMNEWS Editor Leonid Konik invited all broadband market professionals to join the next, 6th International Broadband Russia Forum on 24-25 November 2016.
