Russian Phone Company (RPC), the retail wing of major mobile operator MTS, announced last week that it had filed a number of lawsuits against the world’s four major mobile handset makers. According to the lawsuits, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung and LG are accused of systematically violating deadlines in contractual obligations for non-functional handsets. The four …
The Skolkovo Foundation confirmed last Friday a broad cooperation agreement with Nokia Siemens Networks, a leading global enabler of telecommunication services. Among other items, the deal included provisions for a Smart Lab on the premises of the innovation hub under construction near Moscow.
New Federal legislation on payment systems was adopted by the Russian Duma on June 14 and signed into law by President Medvedev on June 27. The new law establishes the legal and organizational foundation for the country’s payment system and regulates the procedure for rendering payment services. The law recognizes four types of players who …
i-Free, a global Russian mobile, digital finance and micro payment company, announced last Thursday the launch of its own internal venture fund to invest in IT startups. The new fund will provide financing as well as training and mentor support for seed stage projects – even to projects with “non-obvious monetization schemes” – and early growth …
St. Petersburg high tech company to fund Russian and foreign startups Read More
Rostelecom shares jumped 17% in June amid statements from senior Russian officials that the Russian national telecommunications operator might be at least partially privatized. The Russian Federal Government owns a controlling stake in Rostelecom, 53.23%, through the auspices of state owned telecom holding Svyazinvest and investment corporation Vnesheconombank. Rostelecom recently completed a large reorganization and …
Russian search system Yandex announced last week its intention to allocate funding for Social Market, a startup from Moscow developing a social commerce application, within the Yandex.Factory program.
The Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos plans to launch 18 satellites for US space communication provider Globalstar from the Baikonur spaceport by the end of 2011, the Interfax news agency reported this week citing a source in the Russian aerospace industry. According to the source, there will be a total three launches with payloads of …
Russia to launch 18 Globalstar satellites by end of 2011 Read More
Tele2 Russia, a subsidiary of Stockholm based European telecom group, received a warning earlier this week from Russian telecom regulator Roskomnadzor that its licenses may be recalled should the company or its local subsidiaries continue serving regions where they have no licences, reported Russian business daily Kommersant.
The Moscow city government has signaled its preliminary approval for a five year city informatization program on Tuesday. The draft proposal of the program concludes that the whole initiative would cost 329.5 billion rubles, about $11 billion –a quarter of the city’s annual budget – and would be rolled out from 2012-2016. Following a series of public …
$11 billion to be poured in Moscow e-city development program Read More
Russian nanotechnology giant Rusnano and French MRAM chip maker Crocus Technology have selected Kaliningrad based satellite TV system maker General Satellite as their partner in their multimillion dollar joint project to transfer the manufacturing capacities of Crocus Technology to Russia.
Russian state owned fund of funds Russian Venture Company (RVC) has participated indirectly in a $32 million round of financing for London based Shazam Entertainment, the developer of a popular application for mobile devices.
VimpelCom, a mobile operator initially focused on Russia but which has grown into an important international telecom group, is considering a new acquisition in Italy, a source in the Italian government told Russian business daily Vedomosti. Through its merger last April with Italian mobile operator Wind Telecom, VimpelCom already controls 23% of the Italian market. …
