"Sky Link" in Russia: the change of image and the shift to non-voice services

C shift to the principle of CPP (Calling Party Pays - CPP) and all the free incoming calls to the company "Skylink" was in a difficult situation. The traditional perception of the market operator - especially relatively cheap unlimited connection. For which many users were willing to put up with a number of disadvantages: in fact, a complete lack of international roaming very poor selection of expensive terminals, problems with coverage outside of Moscow and Moscow region. With the advent of a heavy fee for interconnect (95 cents per minute) to focus on this category of consumers has been difficult, as subscribers of Sky Link's talk on the phone is traditionally a lot more often and call themselves than accept incoming calls. Which inevitably reduces the profitability of "heavy" a lot of speaking subscribers.

In the light of changed market realities, the company sees its strategy in the active promotion of services associated with high-speed data transmission. In pure form, this project will soon be implemented in Ukraine in which MTS (UMC) are going to deploy a data communication network IMT-MC-450 (CDMA450), using for the installation of base stations existing network infrastructure to GSM. Russian Federal operator Sky Link to abandon the voice is not going to, but hopes to increase the number of subscribers and revenue growth is largely linked with the spread spectrum data transmission services.

Changes in development strategies "Sky Link" commented Sergei Shchebetov, General Director of Sistema Telecom:

• "We are engaged in this project is not accidental. This project represents a great interest in terms of provision of third generation services. Already, within the allocated frequency range can provide the services in Russia, no other operator can not provide the same quality and same speeds. This project we have developed over several years, and he aims for the future, when all the multimedia information and the voice will be transmitted over data networks. And existing technologies "Sky Link" is the closest to this future. Naturally, the market takes time to adopt this technology. But now we are seeing some signs in the market, offers hope for significant growth in demand for those services that are already offered by Sky Link. Notebook sales are soaring, people are starting to consume other services, including mobile TV. For us, this project is extremely important. In 1996, MTS 'history began with a small company, and today the "Sky Link" has every chance to repeat this success. We, on the other hand, perform their obligations in terms of investment. "

As for WiMax, in the opinion of Sergei Schebetova, talking about the real competition is not necessary.

• "With this technology, the situation is paradoxical. Speak of it as a standard yet, of course, too early, not yet entirely clear how it will evolve. Cutting frequencies do not.The existing equipment is not completely standardized, and when / if it is standardized, it would probably have to be replaced. We recognize the promise of this technology, but still treat it with caution. Anyway, while Sistema Telecom to invest in WiMax hundreds of millions of dollars will not. "

Alexander Nesterov, General Director of CJSC "Sky Link", details the new strategy and measures to "Sky Link" is going to take to expand its presence in the market of wireless data transfer.

• With regard to technology, then we have something that is no longer anybody. Another thing is that the market demand for new technologies is always limited. We are located in the mobile market, and we are de-facto perceived as a cellular operator. However, in the process of promoting new technologies we can not use conventional circuits. Our goal is to create an open system that allows users to invite a dozen or even more different services. Each customer the whole set of services is not needed, but the market there are large segments of users, queries that remain unmet. Our task - the aggressive promotion of services associated with the transfer of data, and in this regard we are working.
• CPP, we do not perceive as a tragedy. On the contrary, we now have every reason to gradually leave the market relatively cheap voice service premium. This is also the statistics of our subscribers: the beginning of July the volume of data transmission in our network is constantly growing. Our task - to convey to all the information about our capabilities, we are ready for this and will use all possible partners.
• Turbo on tariff plans that we earn on the voice, at times less than what we earn on the transfer of data. In St. Petersburg, average revenue per subscriber TP Turbo is $ 32, the average traffic - 180-190 MB.

A few interesting excerpts from the commentary of Alexander Piotrowski, deputy general director of strategic marketing and sales CJSC Sky Link.

• The main discussions occur in a comparison of us with other mobile operators. "Sky Link" from the very beginning started as an operator, as close as possible to the delivery of third generation and we are not by definition must provide the same services that the operators of GSM. Trying to catch up with the operators of the "big three", using their ideology, it is useless. We can not invest hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising and to achieve a radical increase in subscriber base in the short term. We should do things for which we had originally intended, ie, provision of services 3G. And success is already there. For example, the new tariff plans Turbo 17% of new connections. Market value added services (VAS) is classified as an extremely profitable, and in this market, we can become a leader. Look at the content providers. The average time of the contract with the companies of the Big Three is 4-6 weeks, with the lion's share of time spent on discussing the project with marketers. We're going to offer a vision of an open system and actively involve partners who will be expected to develop new services.We intend to make additional services from the by means of making money in the main impetus of our acquisition of equipment and connecting to our network. We need to create a stream of constantly changing services that will support ongoing consumer interest in our services.

• Two important aspects. First - a business audience. 90% of our users earn with the help of our devices for a living. We have the ability to provide high quality services to these people. But at the moment 99% of the content providers are offering us ringtones and logos - all the same "Black Boomer." While we can and must develop mobile TV, new services and business services. For example, the opportunity to work on a stock exchange directly from the screen of your mobile device. In this area, content providers will feel insecure. Toys - please, but it's not really our audience. Our task - to ensure that virtually every business person in the range of services able to find something for themselves. Now the so-called "adult content", which accounts for 70% of Internet traffic. Here, the relatively small number of services can make good money. The main users of adult-content are not students, but just the people who make money. And here themselves content providers have long developed their own models and they want to cooperate with us, as the rate of GSM-networks they do not like.