PRESS: Russia’s Rostelecom to pay 1.9 bln rbl for satellite channels

MOSCOW, Dec 5 (PRIME) -- Russian state-controlled telecom operator Rostelecom is ready to pay 1.85 billion rubles for a three-year provision of connection channels for virtual services to organize satellite connection in remote places, business daily Vedomosti reported Monday.

According to Rostelecom’s tender, a subcontractor can be asked to lay channels at the distance of over 1,000 kilometers from regional centers. The operator’s spokesman Andrei Polyakov said the order means satellite connection services.

Rostelecom wants these services for cases when it has a corporate client needing a virtual private network, which is built via satellite channels amid the absence of access to Rostelecom’s fiber optic lines.

The Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology unites remote offices of clients via the Internet into a single protected corporate network with a full range of telecommunications services.

Rostelecom said the service is in demand among big companies with a widely spread branches.

Polyakov attributed the amount of 1.85 billion rubles to a framework purchase and a contract for three years. In order not to sign new contracts every time, the operator concludes a framework deal to reserve money for possible projects, the company’s spokesman said.

According to researcher TMT Consulting, the country’s market of satellite Internet amounted to some 7 billion rubles in 2015, mainly at the expense of service consumption by big companies and state organizations. The segment of individual customers is small.

(64.1528 rubles – U.S. $1)

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