INTERVIEW: Russia’s satellite target program to consume 132 bln rbl

MOSCOW, Feb 20 (PRIME) – Financing of a target program of satellite constellation will amount to 132 billion rubles by 2025, Oleg Dukhovnitsky, head of the Federal Communications Agency, told PRIME in an interview on Tuesday.

“We expect the volume of funding will be as follows: 132 billion rubles, including 76 billion rubles from the budget and about 56 billion rubles of non-budget money,” Dukhovnitsky said, adding that the money will come from state-owned companies and borrowed resources.

Work on the concept of the program has been lasting for a long time but no decisions have been made so far, but space apparatuses are being created.

“In 2018, we plan to complete assembling of (communications satellite) Express-80 and start its tests, and to start assembling Express-103. Putting of Express-80 and Express-103 into the orbit is planned for the third quarter of 2019,” the official said.

Dukhovnitsky said separately that the agency is ready to provide a service of local number portability for fixed-line connection, but there is no need for it at present.

“If there is demand for such a service from people, our subscribers, it can be technically implemented, but there are at least two serious restrictions for it,” he said.

One of them is demand since many people have already abandoned fixed-line phones. “Second, it is the process of fulfilment. A network should be fully digitized to provide this service. At present, unfortunately, we still have stretches that still work in an analogue mode,” Dukhovnitsky said.

About 80% of the network is digitized.

“The service has been already implemented in the U.S. and Canada, as well as in the E.U. I think that the need in local number portability for fixed-line numbers in Russia has not matured, but if such a task is set, we’re ready to implement it,” the official said.

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