St. Petersburg than in the rest of the country. The ‘‘e-readiness’’ standing of Russia as
measured by the Economist Intelligence Unit 12 is 59th out of 70 countries surveyed in
2008. 13 The Ministry of Education and Science has initiated national programs for
providing Internet access to all general educational institutions in the country. 14 Fifty
thousand schools were connected to the Internet by the end of 2007. 15 Moreover, the
government has announced its plans to install open-source software on every school
computer by 2009.
The majority of Russian Internet users are connected by broadband (40 percent), followed by dial-up (27 percent), and ADSL (23 percent). Seven million PCs were sold in
Russia in 2006, of which 1.9 million were laptops, representing a 62 percent annual
increase from the year before. 16
A significant portion of the telecom market has remained under state control. Telecommunication Investment Joint Stock Company SvyazInvest is one of the largest
telecommunications holding companies in the world. It was created during the market
transition by a regulation providing for the merger of a majority of the regional state
telecommunications enterprises. 17 About 89 percent of the Russian telecommunications infrastructure now belongs to SvyazInvest, 18 with the remaining 11 percent
divided among several other operators. 19 The main shareholder of SvyazInvest is the
Russian government through the Federal Property Agency (75 percent minus 1 share),
and Comstar-UTS owns 17.31 percent plus 1 share. Some of the main regional ISPs are
SvyazInvest’s subsidiaries: Central Telecommunication Company, North-West Telecom, VolgaTelecom, Southern Telecom, Uralsvyazinform, Sibirtelecom, Dalsvyaz, and
Central Telegraph. 20
Rostelecom is another large telecommunications operator and ISP. Despite strong
international pressure for privatization, SvyazInvest continues to hold 51 percent of
Rostelecom shares. Historically, Rostelecom has been the primary long-distance and
international telephone operator, collecting mandatory intermediary fees from other
providers. Before the adoption of the new regulatory framework on communications,
Rostelecom had a monopoly over the provision of international long-distance services.
Under the new regime, providers of long-distance services may offer their services
directly to users without paying intermediary charges, provided certain prerequisites
apply. These include that the providers ‘‘are in technical conformity with the local
and long-distance network operators, with a point of presence in every Russian administrative region, and are operationally ready to provide long-distance services to any
local network subscriber.’’
Russia has more than a dozen main first-tier ISPs, which have independent connections to foreign networks, and several other influential ISPs. First-tier ISPs in the
Russian Federation are Rostelecom, 21 GoldenTelecom, 22 TransTeleCom, 23 Makomnet, 24
TeliaSonera, 25 Comstar-Direct (previously MTU-Intel), 26 Metrocom, 27 Corbina, 28 ERTelecom, CentrTelecom, 29 RTComm, 30 RETN.net, 31 and RiNet. 32 The major ISPs in
212
Russia
measured by the Economist Intelligence Unit 12 is 59th out of 70 countries surveyed in
2008. 13 The Ministry of Education and Science has initiated national programs for
providing Internet access to all general educational institutions in the country. 14 Fifty
thousand schools were connected to the Internet by the end of 2007. 15 Moreover, the
government has announced its plans to install open-source software on every school
computer by 2009.
The majority of Russian Internet users are connected by broadband (40 percent), followed by dial-up (27 percent), and ADSL (23 percent). Seven million PCs were sold in
Russia in 2006, of which 1.9 million were laptops, representing a 62 percent annual
increase from the year before. 16
A significant portion of the telecom market has remained under state control. Telecommunication Investment Joint Stock Company SvyazInvest is one of the largest
telecommunications holding companies in the world. It was created during the market
transition by a regulation providing for the merger of a majority of the regional state
telecommunications enterprises. 17 About 89 percent of the Russian telecommunications infrastructure now belongs to SvyazInvest, 18 with the remaining 11 percent
divided among several other operators. 19 The main shareholder of SvyazInvest is the
Russian government through the Federal Property Agency (75 percent minus 1 share),
and Comstar-UTS owns 17.31 percent plus 1 share. Some of the main regional ISPs are
SvyazInvest’s subsidiaries: Central Telecommunication Company, North-West Telecom, VolgaTelecom, Southern Telecom, Uralsvyazinform, Sibirtelecom, Dalsvyaz, and
Central Telegraph. 20
Rostelecom is another large telecommunications operator and ISP. Despite strong
international pressure for privatization, SvyazInvest continues to hold 51 percent of
Rostelecom shares. Historically, Rostelecom has been the primary long-distance and
international telephone operator, collecting mandatory intermediary fees from other
providers. Before the adoption of the new regulatory framework on communications,
Rostelecom had a monopoly over the provision of international long-distance services.
Under the new regime, providers of long-distance services may offer their services
directly to users without paying intermediary charges, provided certain prerequisites
apply. These include that the providers ‘‘are in technical conformity with the local
and long-distance network operators, with a point of presence in every Russian administrative region, and are operationally ready to provide long-distance services to any
local network subscriber.’’
Russia has more than a dozen main first-tier ISPs, which have independent connections to foreign networks, and several other influential ISPs. First-tier ISPs in the
Russian Federation are Rostelecom, 21 GoldenTelecom, 22 TransTeleCom, 23 Makomnet, 24
TeliaSonera, 25 Comstar-Direct (previously MTU-Intel), 26 Metrocom, 27 Corbina, 28 ERTelecom, CentrTelecom, 29 RTComm, 30 RETN.net, 31 and RiNet. 32 The major ISPs in
212
Russia