INTERVIEW: Russia’s Prestige-Internet sees revenue up 20% in 2012

Interview with Prestige-Internet CEO Viktor Ratnikov

MOSCOW, Feb 22 (PRIME) -- Russian wireless broadband Internet access service provider Prestige-Internet, known by the Enforta brand name, expects its revenue to grow more than 20% to 2.5 billion rubles in 2012, CEO Viktor Ratnikov told PRIME in an interview Wednesday.

The operator, which provides services via the WiMAX technology, also expects its user base to increase more than 20% in 2012 to 57,000 subscribers, Ratnikov said.

Prestige-Internet provides a wide range of wireless services in more than 200 Russian cities, where about 70% of the country’s urban population lives. Its corporate subscriber base amounts to more than 45,000 companies.

Prestige-Internet’s investment program for 2012 amounts to about 600 million rubles, Ratnikov said, adding that the company plans to invest in infrastructure development. “We have credit lines, but we are going to invest our own funds,” Ratnikov said of the investment program.

The company estimates its corporate wireless broadband market share at 5%, while in cities, where Prestige-Internet has operated for more than three years, its market share amounts to 12%–15%, Ratnikov said. He also said that WiMAX services were in demand in Russia, where the WiMAX market grows faster than other broadband Internet access services.

Ratnikov said Prestige-Internet has no acquisition or merger plans for 2012, unless an interesting proposal appears. The company plans to develop services in the cities, where it already operates, but plans no geographical expansion, as it already covers almost all cities with a population of more than 250,000 people.

Prestige-Internet’s target audience is small and medium enterprises and it has no plans to include households into its customer base, Ratnikov said.

Speaking about Russian major telecommunications company Rostelecom’s interest in buying Prestige-Internet’s household broadband arm Enter, Ratnikov said that the negotiations were still ongoing. “We have put an interesting asset up for sale. The possibility of buying the asset is under serious consideration by a number of operators,” Ratnikov said.

Ratnikov said that Prestige-Internet planned to use fourth generation mobile networks based on Long Term Evolution technology for its broadband Internet services.

(29.7796 ruble – U.S. $1)

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