Privatization and profit potential are spurring significant investments and growth in Russian telecommunications. Reshaping of telecom investments In August 1998, an economic crisis reshaped the flow of foreign and domestic investments into Russian telecommunications. This difficult economic situation caused many regional operators tariff and payment problems with accumulated debts to vendors. Following the crisis, large debts to foreign suppliers for deployment of fiber-optic cable were restructured. The quick revival of fiber-optic cable manufacturers and installers after the August 1998 crisis is a strong indicator of the Russian market's large potential.Conservative forecasts for growth in Russian telecommunications over the next five years project aggregate gains of 45.5% for trunk networks and 65% for regional networks, local area networks (LANs), other data communications, and cable TV. With continued strengthening of the Russian economy, these forecasts will improve by as much as 15%-20%. Data communications is a particularly high growth area, with projected expansion of 20%-30% in annual growth rate over the next five years. Rostelecom is the biggest fiber-optic cable installer and a key player in implementing fiber-optic systems in Russia (see Figure 2). Last year, Rostelecom finished building a 4,000-km fiber link, which is part of the TransSiberian project using aerial cables along energy company corridors in the region. Rostelecom's long-distance focus has attracted investors to build several fiber-optic systems for international communications, including a national trunk network, where only 54% of installed capacity was being used in 1998. Since 1998, Rostelecom intensively started to develop fiber-optic networks and feeder links to connect all regional operators to its digital network. Due to the efforts of Rostelecom, the digitalization of long-distance communications in Russia has reached 70% by the end of last year. Rostelecom plans to deploy 8,000 km of fiber-optic cable annually. In addition to its trunk telephony services, Rostelecom has intensively developed its data-communications capacity. Several major users also appeared on the market in 1997, including the United Energy System Russian Joint-Stock Co. (RAO EES), the huge Russian energy conglomerate Gazprom, and the Ministry of Railways. Based on new economic conditions, these companies and their regional telecom companies have some independence in the development of their communications infrastructure. Local computerized management systems combine to form a common corporate network to serve these important fiber-optic customers. Railways will be the second major fiber-optic deployer in the next five years (see Figure 3). Transtelecom, the general contractor and future operator of railway communications, has announced plans to deploy between 35,000 and 37,000 km of fiber-optic cable using $1 billion to $2 billion in investments by next year. The business plan for this ambitious project was developed by U.S. consulting firm Ernst & Young; the equipment suppliers include Lucent Technologies, Alcatel, Ericsson, Siemens, Pirelli, and GPT. Transtelecom's network will compare with that of Rostelecom and have capacity reserves using WDM technology. As part of the Transtelecom project, Zapadno-Sibirskaya (West Siberian) Railway installed a suspended or buried 12-16-fiber link between Omsk and Novosibirsk along the railway. RAO EES and Gazprom also plan to build nationwide fiber-optic networks with more than 20,000 route-km and 10,000 route-km, respectively. The construction of these new systems promises new possibilities for Russian telecommunication markets as well as suppliers of fiber-optic systems and cables. Applications such as railways, energy utilities (RAO EES), and gas and oil companies--segments that traditionally have ready access to rights-of-way--have the greatest immediate growth prospects. The railways and communications divisions of large energy companies are leading new installations, including Sverdloskaya Railways, which completed a 2,500-km fiber-optic network connecting main cities in the region. Gaztelecom, general contractor for construction of the ground network and a subsidiary of Gazprom, received licenses to provide local communications in 53 regions, and applications for a trunk license are expected to be approved. Gazprom, the largest corporation for gas extraction and transportation, has planned a 48-fiber 2,500-km fiber-optic link installed along gas pipelines linking cities in Belorussia, Poland, and Germany (namely Berlin). Pirelli is the likely supplier of the cable using WDM technology. Gazprom's three-stage expansion plan includes $2 billion in communications investments, according to the KMI report. COMCOR, operator of a 2,000-km fiber-optic network in Moscow, plans to expand the system connections to neighboring towns with a 32-fiber cable forming a system that could reach 2,800 km. International trunk operators One aspect of the fiber market in Russia is the entry of international trunk operators. Last year, Sonera (Finland) built a 1,000-km fiber-optic link together with several regional operators of energy utilities. Sonera became the first international operator to build a domestic link with Russia, reflecting a continuation of the liberalization process in Russian telecommunications.GTS Access Service (United Kingdom) is currently building a fiber-optic ring through Moscow and Kiev, as part of the TransEuropean Network, connecting St. Petersburg with Tallinn (Estonia) and Helsinki (Finland). Other fiber-optic cables will be installed from Warsaw (Poland) to Kiev (Ukraine) to Moskow by Opten Ltd. In the next year, several new international fiber-optic links to Belorussia, Ukraine, Kazahstan, Georgia, Azerbadjan, and Poland are planned. RAO EES (registered October 1993) is a joint venture of Oktyabrskaya Railway State Enterprise, Vysokoskorostnie Magistrali (High-Speed Railways) JointStock Co., and Andrew Corp. (United States). The main activity of the company is leasing international circuits for transmitting telephone, television, data or telemetric information channels as well as providing communications for the Oktyabrskaya Railway. Building international trunk networks opens up a competitive environment for regional operators. Russian cable TV The future of Russian cable TV is not clear. While there are more than 400 television operators in Russian, few use fiber-optic cable systems. In 1999, cableTV and data-communications segments did not exceed 3% to 5% of the total fiber-optic-cable installations. The main problem for the development of cable-TV networks is the low density of the population. The building of fiber-optic or hybrid fiber/coax TV networks is viable only in big cities where it is possible to deploy wideband networks that can also be used by local and datacom operators. In recent years, several fiber-optic cableTV networks were built in medium-sized cities. If the experience of these operators is successful, investments will come to this sector.The current length of fiber-optic links in Moscow Metro is about 650 km. Connecting the fiber-optic cable to other switching centers outside the metropolitan area and to major subscribers results in a fiber-optic network that exceeds 1,500 km. Carriers with plans for greater than 700 km of fiber-optic cable in Moscow in the next five years include Moscow City Telephone Network (MGTS), Macomnet, Comstar (a joint Russian-British venture), PTT-Teleport Moscow, Sovintel (Russia-United States), and Telmos JV, MGTS, Rostelecom, and AT&T (United States). Other international major players in Russian telecommunications include Global One and Golden Line. Telmos, an MGTS and AT&T (U.S.) company, is a partner in a large network modernization program called the Golden Bullet Project, which has added 420,000 digital lines to the Moscow City Telephone Network. Lensvjaz is one of the top 10 telecom companies in Russia providing services in the Leningradskaya region. International operators Global One has 270 access nodes in more than 200 major cities in Russian and other CIS countries servicing domestic and foreign companies, government, mass media, and approximately 800 banks.By late last year, the volume of information handled by the network was 2 Gbits/sec per day. Golden Line, a Russian-Canadian joint venture, services major customers such as AT&T, British Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, Sonera, France Telecom, PTT Netherlands Telecom, Swiss Telecom, and Telecom Denmark, as well as main Russian long-haul and datacom operators. Sovintel, a Russian-U.S. joint venture, provides service to more than 50,000 subscribers, with major customers such as IBM, Credit Swiss, Nestle, Pepsi, Lukoil, and the Central Bank of Russia, as well as the larger hotels such as Metropol and the Savoy. The main foreign investors to Urasvjazinform Joint-Stock Co., the largest telecom company operating in the west Ural region, are Alcatel Telecom, Siemens (Germany), Nokia (Finland) and Hanwha (South Korea). Cable manufacturers Following the economic recovery from the August 1998 crisis in Russia, cable manufacturers have become more aggressive in gearing up for production, offering new cable designs and open price lists for standard cable configurations. During 1998-99, several new fiber-optic-cable manufacturers appeared on the market. Key players include Corning and Fujikura, which have provided fiber to Optika-Kabel and Opten Yauza-Kabel. Corning provides cable to Samara Optical Cable Co. and Transvok. Lucent Technologies' joint venture with Svjazstroy-1 in Voronezhwas was announced last year.Fiber-optic-cable production is expected to nearly triple from 259,700 to 725,000 km within the next five years, with Elecktroprovod and Optika-Kabel leading fiber-optic-cable manufacturing. Elektroprovod, the leader in fiber-optic-cable production supplied 50,000 fiber-km last year. Of the new domestic manufacturers in Russia, Myassky Machine Building Plant is producing high-quality quartz-glass preforms. As well, a manufacturing collaboration between Samara Optical Cable Co. and Corning was established in 1997, with investments from Swisscab (Switzerland) and Mali (Austria). © Copyright of Lightwave is the property of Penn Well Publishing Co.
PARIS, (AP) -- Imagine Intel or Microsoft riding posse with the Feds to track down vandals on the Internet. It isn't happening yet, but the world's most powerful industrial nations - desperate to combat global Internet attacks - made an unprecedented appeal Wednesday to the business world to help police the Web. Congressionally-Sponsored Program to Bring More Than 2,000 Russian Political Leaders to the United States WASHINGTON,May 11 /PRNewswire/ -- As Russian Duma agricultural leaders return to Moscow from a seven-day visit to the United States, leading Russian defense specialists and land reform experts arrive in Washington DC this week as the Library of Congress launches its OPEN WORLD 2000 Russian Leadership Program (RLP). RLP is a unique legislature-to-legislature exchange program involving 2,000 Russian political leaders and U.S. members of Congress and other federal, state and local officials. © Copyright 2000 PRNewswire. All rights reserved.
DETROIT, (BUSINESS WIRE), May 10, 2000 -- The City of Detroit plays host to what some consider to be the Olympics of brain power - the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF), May 7-12 at Cobo Center. Earth and Space Sciences (Grand Awards presented by Scientific American.) "Determination of Distance to Dwarf Galaxy by Three Brightest Stars", team project by Vyacheslav S. Zhabin, 17, junior, Dmitry N. Solovyov, 15, sophomore, of School No. 34, Ryazan, Russia.© Copyright 2000 Business Wire. All rights reserved.
MOSCOW,May 15 (Itar-Tass) -- An all-Russian conference of young scientists opening on Monday will discuss topical problems of cardio-vascular surgery and cardiology. © 1996-2000 ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved.
NOVOSIBIRSK, May 16 (Itar-Tass) -- The 13th international universal medical exhibition Health Care of Siberia-2000 opened in Novosibirsk on Tuesday. © 1996-2000 ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. CAPE CANAVERAL,May 19Fla.--Shuttle Atlantis could be headed to the international space station today with a crew of seven, a ton of supplies and a mission to revitalize the dormant outpost. Everything was moving smoothly late Thursday toward this morning's pre-dawn launch attempt between 6:12 and 6:17 a.m. from Kennedy Space Center. The crew is scheduled to dock with the outpost for at least five days, store more than 2,000 pounds of supplies on board and help get the place ready for future expansion. Repeated delays in launching the next segment of the space station from Russia have kept the station from growing since its first two modules were joined together in late 1998. But officials say Atlantis' mission starts a renewed push to build an elaborate research facility in orbit. "Within a year from now, we are going to have a fully functional international space station capable of doing science. That's going to happen," said Bob Cabana, NASA's deputy station manager for international operations. On Thursday, the crew was awakened before 5 p.m. for physicals and final preparations for today's liftoff. Three previous launch attempts in April were canceled by bad weather, but late Thursday forecasters were calling for a 100-percent chance of good conditions for liftoff. The shuttle itself was in great shape, too. "There are really no problems to speak of," said Bill Gerstenmaier, shuttle launch integration manager from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Once in space, shuttle Commander James Halsell, an Air Force colonel, and pilot Scott Horowitz, an Air Force lieutenant colonel, gradually will maneuver the ship into the same orbit as the station. The plan calls for the shuttle to dock at the outpost Sunday. The crew's tasks are expansive in the ensuing days. Two astronauts are to float outside for a grueling, six-hour spacewalk to replace a broken communications antenna and work on two cranes needed for future construction. Others will work inside to install, suitcase-sized batteries in the Russian Zarya module. Periodically, Halsell and Horowitz will fire Atlantis' maneuvering jets to boost the station's sagging orbit about 26 miles higher above Earth. All the crew members will lug bags and boxes into the station. The goods include a treadmill, clothes, computer equipment and smoke detectors for the residents who are expected to begin occupying the outpost in October. Three of those future residents are Atlantis crew members -- Jim Voss, a retired Army colonel; Susan Helms, an Air Force lieutenant colonel; and Yuri Usachev, an experienced Russian cosmonaut who has amassed more than a year in space during two missions on his country's space station, Mir. They make up the second crew that is to live aboard the station for a four-month mission, possibly beginning in February. Other crew members include Mary Ellen Weber, a chemist, and Jeff Williams, an Army lieutenant colonel. Though beleaguered by delays, the station will start growing soon after Atlantis' mission, Cabana said Thursday. NASA officials are confident that Russia will launch the long-overdue Zvezda service module in July as scheduled. That would clear the way for three more shuttle missions this year to add pieces or supplies. "It (the international space station) is a wonderful place," said Cabana, a former astronaut who commanded the 1998 shuttle mission that joined the first two segments in orbit. "It's a place you want to be. The only thing we need is more modules, and we're in the process of doing that. I think you're going to see a fantastic facility up there in the not-to-distant future."
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