Virgin Expands to Russia Wideband
Virgin Group of British billionaire Sir Richard Branson has launched the first project in Russia. Yesterday, the WiMAZ net was put into motion in 32 regions of the country under the Virgin Connect brands. The plans are to cover 10 percent on the market of Internet wideband access in the nearest five years, and the size of that market of Russia is projected to reach $5.5 billion by 2013.
Virgin Group (VG) launched yesterday its Wi-Fi wideband net based on the WiMAX technology in 32 regions of Russia. VG will be promoting its business here based on the assets of Trivon operator and under the Virgin Connect (VC) brand, covering both the corporate and mass segments.
The WiMAX net of the company operates at the range of 5.7 GHz to 5.9 GHz. “We have received the state commission’s sanction for the radio frequencies of 5.9 GHz to 6.4 GHz for a number of regions and are completing the process of getting the frequency assignment,” said Trivon Group Promotion Director Yulia Shalneva.
Sir Richard Branson founded Virgin Group in 1970. The company operates in 29 countries, extending to tourism, aircraft carriage, entertainment, media, telecom and other businesses. 2007 turnover exceeded $23 billion.
Branson said VC is targeted at winning 10 percent of Russia’s market of the Internet wideband access in the nearest five years. According to iKS-Consulting analyst Konstantin Ankilov, the worth of that market will reach $5.5 billion by 2013 ($1.8 billion in 2007). Neither VG nor Trivon have disclosed the project budget. The only thing known is that its key investors are VG, Delta Partners and Eurasia Capital Management (ECM), each of which owning a sizeable stake in Trivon.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of May 16, 2008
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