Yong:
I found this article on PR newswire. Expanding in Russia could be very good. I remember there was a russian cellular phone company that said the average russian uses their phone 400 minutes a month. This is because the copper phone system is very unreliable. This could have a high potential.
CellularVision Technology & Telecommunications Licensee in Russia Receives Go-Ahead For Commercial
Service Offering of LMDS Services
Decision Makes CellularVision of Russia the First Private Company in Russia
To Receive a Federal License
NEW YORK, Jan. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Last week the Ministry of
Telecommunications of the Russian Federation invited CellularVision of Russia,
a licensee of CellularVision Technology & Telecommunications, L.P. (CT&T) to
begin offering telephone service via its CellularVision Local Multipoint
Distribution Service (LMDS). The basis for the invitation was a decree issued
by Russian Federation President Boris Yeltsin in December of 1995 supporting a
program to provide telecommunications services to the people of Russia. An
exclusive, 10-year renewable federal license grants CellularVision of Russia
the right to begin providing television service, data transmission, and local,
long distance, and international telephone service throughout the country of
approximately 165 million people.
In issuing the invitation to CellularVision of Russia, the Russian
Government joins a list of countries, including Canada, the Philippines, and
Panama, that within the last two months have awarded CT&T licensees permission
to begin commercial offerings of LMDS service. Other countries which have
awarded LMDS licenses include the United States and Thailand. LMDS licensing
decisions are pending in fifteen other countries at this time.
In Russia, as in each of the countries listed above, the licenses awarded
to deliver LMDS services are the first available in the country, and echo the
increasing global acceptance of LMDS as a technology which can deliver the
advanced telecommunications solutions of the 21st century. This action by the
Collegium of the Ministry of Telecommunications indicates that LMDS is being
embraced as a standard for telecommunications in the country, and will be an
integral part of the program to help alleviate the backlog of requests for
telephones currently being experienced throughout Russia.
According to Patrick J. Greaney, Senior Vice President of Philips
Electronics, a partner of CT&T, "CellularVision of Russia has been awarded a
large block of frequency spectrum (2 GHz) because Russian policy makers
realize that the cost of hardwiring the country would exceed $40 billion, and
that the CellularVision LMDS program -- which will provide complete video,
telephone and data service -- will deliver a far more advanced system for a
fraction of the cost and time it would take to hardwire."
The wireless nature of LMDS is especially important to nations like Russia
which need to quickly deploy high-tech telecommunications infrastructure in a
cost-effective manner in order to catch-up with further developed nations.
Because hardwiring is not necessary, the development of these systems will
circumvent the need to upgrade antiquated telephone plant as broadband signals
travel through the air from Earth-based transmitters directly to flat,
six-inch-square antennas located on the building or inside the window of a
home or business. Once in place, this delivery system has the flexibility to
grow with the times due to its ability to handle two-way analog or digital
signals for voice, video or data.
The Russian market has a particular need for the CellularVision of Russia
telecommunications system, since the country is virtually devoid of television
service, and has a severe shortage of telephone service as well. For example,
there is currently a backlog of orders for 12 million telephone lines in
Russia, where currently only 17 out of every 100 people have any telephone
service, and of those, only seven to eight people have "full" service -- or
the ability to call between cities or internationally.
CellularVision USA (Nasdaq: CVUS), currently provides commercial service
to thousands of customers in the New York City Metropolitan area. In the
United States, the FCC approved the 28 GHz band for LMDS use in July of 1996.
LMDS service and auction rules from the FCC are expected imminently, with
auctions for licenses across the country soon to follow.
The CellularVision(TM) Local Multipoint Distribution Service (LMDS) is a
technology which utilizes the high-frequency 28 GHz band to simultaneously
provide voice, video and data services. Unlike other traditional "wireless"
technologies such as MMDS and DBS, LMDS possesses the ability to effectively
provide simultaneous high-quality, high-capacity, two-way voice, video and
data services through a comparatively low-cost infrastructure. In short, LMDS
has the opportunity to fill the void of cost effective, high-capacity
telecommunications services in local markets.
The CellularVision telecommunications system is a proprietary LMDS
technology which is owned and licensed by CellularVision Technology &
Telecommunications, L.P. (CT&T). CT&T is the creator of the original patented
LMDS technology, and licenses this technology to LMDS operators around the
globe including: CellularVision of New York, L.P., a wholly owned subsidiary
of CellularVision USA; CellularVision Canada, a subsidiary of Western
International Communications LTD. (WIC); and CellularVision (Thailand) Public
Company Ltd.; CellularVision of Philippines; and CellularVision of Panama. In
addition to these, many other CT&T licensees have applications pending to
provide service in additional countries that will be announced soon. CT&T
functions as a business cooperative in which all of the licensees around the
world share bulk buying power, and benefit from CT&T's research and
development for technological advances. Philips Electronics North America
Corporation is a strategic partner of CT&T. |
