October 18, 2006 at 18:48Golden Telecom will start making money on Wi-Fi in January 2007
Golden Telecom (GT) is preparing to launch the Moscow Wi-Fi network, which will include 6 thousand hot spots. Beta testing of the network was scheduled for November, and the beginning of commercial operation - in mid-January 2007. This was reported by the Prime-TASS news agency with reference to the words of Jean-Pierre Vandromme, the general manager of the company.
About $ 10 million was invested in the creation of a wireless access network. The payback period for investments is three to four years. The project has already installed 5,247 access points, and it is planned to bring their number to 6 thousand by the end of the month. It is known that the network will cover the capital within the Third Transport Ring.
Over the next few years, the company's strategy is focused on obtaining 15-20% of the market share of Wi-Fi access, said Wandromme. He predicts that by 2010-2011. the number of broadband users in Moscow will reach 2-3 million people, and among them GT subscribers will be about 300-400 thousand. The
manager noted that monthly income per subscriber (ARPU) is expected to reach $ 50. First of all, Vedomosti reports, GT will focus on servicing apartment subscribers, and prices are going to maintain “approximately at the level of Stream tariffs”. “However, if ADSL has an average access speed of 256 Kbps, then we have 2 Mbps,” said Vandromme.
Access mobility due to the lack of wires is another undeniably attractive feature of the Internet over Wi-Fi. However, gaining 300,000-400,000 subscribers in a few years is a very ambitious plan, experts say. According to Boris Ovchinnikov, director of analytic department at J'son & Partners , GT can only attract an audience of such volume if ARPU does not exceed $ 20. “Otherwise, the services will be too expensive for the mass market and the company will be able to rely only on the role of an operator for business subscribers,” the Vedomosti expert quotes.
In addition, Ovchinnikov doubts the ability to constantly maintain an access speed of 2 Mbps. “Wireless technology has its own characteristics: when a signal passes through walls, interference can occur, and speed can drop if there are many subscribers per access point,” he explained.
About $ 10 million was invested in the creation of a wireless access network. The payback period for investments is three to four years. The project has already installed 5,247 access points, and it is planned to bring their number to 6 thousand by the end of the month. It is known that the network will cover the capital within the Third Transport Ring.
Over the next few years, the company's strategy is focused on obtaining 15-20% of the market share of Wi-Fi access, said Wandromme. He predicts that by 2010-2011. the number of broadband users in Moscow will reach 2-3 million people, and among them GT subscribers will be about 300-400 thousand. The
manager noted that monthly income per subscriber (ARPU) is expected to reach $ 50. First of all, Vedomosti reports, GT will focus on servicing apartment subscribers, and prices are going to maintain “approximately at the level of Stream tariffs”. “However, if ADSL has an average access speed of 256 Kbps, then we have 2 Mbps,” said Vandromme.
Access mobility due to the lack of wires is another undeniably attractive feature of the Internet over Wi-Fi. However, gaining 300,000-400,000 subscribers in a few years is a very ambitious plan, experts say. According to Boris Ovchinnikov, director of analytic department at J'son & Partners , GT can only attract an audience of such volume if ARPU does not exceed $ 20. “Otherwise, the services will be too expensive for the mass market and the company will be able to rely only on the role of an operator for business subscribers,” the Vedomosti expert quotes.
In addition, Ovchinnikov doubts the ability to constantly maintain an access speed of 2 Mbps. “Wireless technology has its own characteristics: when a signal passes through walls, interference can occur, and speed can drop if there are many subscribers per access point,” he explained.