As anyone who studies the Russian internet market knows, internet access is a key problem. While ADSL/SDSL high speed connections overtook dial-up for the first time this March this growth primarily reflects the situation in the large cities, such as Moscow, St. Petersburg and Vladivostok.
Yandex, the leading Russian search engine, acknowledges this as a major stumbling block to internet expansion in Runet and has pioneered an expansion plan called “Yandex Tariff“. This scheme aims to expand high speed internet connections and lower access costs across the country.
Three months ago the project started with 20 participants, there are now 80 providers on the lists. These are not only from major cities but all around Russia, from Pskov to Ryazan. For inclusion in the project providers must not charge more than $30 a month and provide connection speeds of at least 128 kbit/s. Users can browse and select qualifying internet providers on a section of the Yandex web portal. Considering the amount of traffic Yandex drives this is quite an incentive.
“As we assumed, the ice was broken, said Diana Trubetskaya, leader of project. “inexpensive wide-band access into the Internet ceases to be the lot of the few chosen happy fellows, competition grows, providers are reducing prices, increasing the quality of services, and, therefore increasing the number of their subscribers. We await new claims for inclusion in the scheme and will report with pleasure new participants “.
Source: Yandex News
Nick Wilsdon
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Not sure about Fon but Yandex is also pushing WiFi in Moscow (and Ukraine). Problem here is building infrastructure, the major lines coming out from Moscow have very limited capacity and it’s expensive. We’re paying nearly $1000/month for a 1MB business line here – crazy prices compared to the UK and about 10x what we would pay in Moscow.
I wonder what the Fon movement will do in Russia and whether that could help with internet connections.
Jeje, for now, there is only one Fon user registered:
http://ru.maps.fon.com/