Russian telecoms firm pins hopes on Olympics
TransTeleCom Company CJSC, a Russia-based telecommunications network operator, is seeking to double its international revenue this year, fuelled by expansion in the mainland as demand for bandwidth to other countries grows in the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
TransTeleCom, owned by the Russia's state-owned railway operator, operates and owns the country's largest fibre-optic network. Laid along railways, it has more than 950 access sites in Russia and along the boundaries of Europe and Asia.
By connecting the fibre optic network in the eastern borders of Eastern Europe and western boarders of China and Japan, the company is able to offer its customers a 'Eurasia Highway' from London to Tokyo.
'We want to be one of the leading bandwidth suppliers in China to help international broadcasters carrying live signals of the Beijing Olympics in 2008 through our Eurasia Highway,' Igor Kelshev, senior vice-president for international sales and marketing, said in Hong Kong last week.
'We have spent more than US$1 billion to build the Russian fibre network and we are seeking to connect our network to other destinations.'
TransTeleCom developed interconnection agreements with mainland telecommunications network operators China Unicom, ChinaTietong and China Netcom last year and expects to sign an agreement with China Telecom this year.
The Russian company has also reached agreement with Japan-based fixed-line operator NTT Communications to build a cable connecting Russia's eastern Sakhalin region and the Japanese island of Hokkaido with an investment of US$40 million.
The firm established a point of presence, an internet access point, in Hong Kong this year and is to establish another POP in Tokyo.
Revenue from Russia-China business would be about US$130 million by the end of 2011 with TransTeleCom and its local counterpart RosTelcom evenly sharing the market, Mr Kelshev said.
TransTeleCom, which forecast sales from international business would be about US$50 million by the end of this year, up from US$18 million last year, has partnered with China Unicom and a Mongolian carrier to offer the shortest fibre-optic path connecting the European and Asia regions of the continent.
'The capacity connecting China and Russia is around 10 gigabits per second at this moment, and it is able to be further upgraded to around 64 gigabits per second depending on market demand. The maximum capacity for the Eurasia Highway can be scaled up to 400 gigabits per second,' Mr Kelshev said.
The highway complements Pacific Ocean submarine cables and could serve as an alternative route in the event of a repeat of last year's Taiwan earthquake which cut almost all submarine cable connections between Asia and the United States.
Mr Kelshev said the company had sufficient capacity for broadcasters to carry live coverage of the Beijing Olympics and the shorter link between Beijing and Europe should lead to better quality transmission than alternatives.
The capacity can support signals using high-definition standards which require four times more bandwidth than standard signals.
