Unfinished? Sonnet? The cellular operator voluntarily laid down his arms. Sonnet (cellular operator) How the number in the sonnet network is determined

Reason for abolition Location Industry Website

It began its activity on August 17, 1998 and ended in 2004. He specialized mainly in relatively inexpensive unlimited mobile communications. The general director was Mikhail Valeryevich Susov. The parent company is AFK Sistema. The number of subscribers when the network was closed was about 100,000. Subscribers were provided with new telephone sets, as well as telephone numbers that changed during the transition.

As of May 1, 2005, 92.5% of the shares belonged to CJSC Sky Link, 7.5% - to Qualcomm Inc.

In March 2008, the Board of Directors of Sky Link made a decision to reorganize Sonet CJSC in the form of a merger with Sky Link CJSC.

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Operators ...virtual Sales networks Standards

An excerpt characterizing the Sonnet (cellular operator)

"Are you sure you'll be in charge of it yourself?" - said Julie, exchanging sly and mocking glances with the militia.
The militia in the presence of Pierre was no longer so caustique, and his face expressed bewilderment at what Julie's smile meant. Despite his distraction and good nature, Pierre's personality immediately stopped all attempts at ridicule in his presence.
“No,” Pierre answered, laughing, looking at his big, fat body. “It’s too easy for the French to hit me, and I’m afraid that I won’t get on a horse ...
Among the people being sorted out for the subject of conversation, Julie's society fell on the Rostovs.
“Very, they say, their deeds are bad,” said Julie. - And he is so stupid - the count himself. The Razumovskys wanted to buy his house and the suburban area, and all this is dragging on. He is valued.
- No, it seems that the sale will take place one of these days, - someone said. – Although now it’s crazy to buy anything in Moscow.
- From what? Julie said. – Do you really think that there is a danger to Moscow?
- Why are you going?
- I? That's strange. I'm going because ... well, because everyone is going, and then I'm not John d "Arc and not an Amazon.
- Well, yes, yes, give me more rags.
- If he manages to conduct business, he can pay all the debts, - the militia went on about Rostov.
– Kind old man, but very pauvre sire [bad]. And why do they live here for so long? They have long wanted to go to the village. Natalie seems to be well now? Julie asked Pierre with a sly smile.
“They are waiting for a younger son,” said Pierre. - He entered the Obolensky Cossacks and went to Belaya Tserkov. A regiment is formed there. And now they have transferred him to my regiment and are waiting every day. The count has long wanted to go, but the countess will never agree to leave Moscow until her son arrives.
- I saw them the third day at the Arkharovs. Natalie got prettier and happier again. She sang one romance. How easy it is for some people!
- What's going on? Pierre asked indignantly. Julie smiled.
“You know, Count, that knights like you only exist in the novels of Madame Suza.
What knight? From what? – blushing, asked Pierre.
- Well, come on, dear count, c "est la fable de tout Moscou. Je vous admire, ma parole d" honneur. [All Moscow knows this. Really, I'm surprised at you.]

The idea of ​​creating? Sonnet? arose from the general director of the Moscow alternative operator? MTU-Inform? Mikhail Aizman. ?At WorldTelecom-95, he became very interested in the recent CDMA technology. Then we agreed with the shareholders? MTU-Informa?, ? tells Alexander Sandomirsky, at that time the first deputy general director of? MTU-Inform?.

The Russian market of cellular communications in 1995 was only in its infancy. Less than 0.1% of Russians used mobile communications. ? It was a creative time, operators were always coming up with something, and in our country almost all cellular communication standards were represented: AMPS, NMT-450, GSM ?,? remembers the first deputy general director? System Telecom? Alexander Vronets.

Compared to them, the standard that Eizman was interested in was very young, the first CDMA network in the world appeared in 1995, when the GSM standard was already popular. The International Telecommunication Union recommended GSM and NMT standards for development in Europe. And CDMA developed primarily in Southeast Asia and America: for example, the American operator Verizon Wireless operates in this standard, serving today 43.8 million subscribers and bringing in 24.4 billion USD per year. Many experts believed that CDMA is more promising in many respects? sound quality, eavesdropping protection level, etc.

In November 1995, according to the website? Sonnet?,? MTU-Inform? founded the company JSC?Personal Communications? (?PeCom?), which was supposed to build a CDMA network. As follows from the GDR prospectus of AFK?Sistema?, among the founders of?PeCom? were the top managers of the main shareholder? MTU-Inform? ? Moscow City Telephone Network. The then general director of MGTS, Vladimir Lagutin, and his deputies, Semyon Rabovsky and Said Alimbekov, received a total of more than 20% of PeCom.

In 1997, ?PeKom? received a license to provide radio services telephone connection in the CDMA standard at 800 MHz. The license extended to the Moscow, Yaroslavl, Tver, Vladimir and Tula regions. In Moscow? Sonnet? ? from words? cellular? and? network? ? English net? earned in a year.

Bad start
Luck turned away from? Sonnet? immediately after its birth. The network went live on August 1, 1998, 17 days before the crisis. ? Because of this, we have been stalling for several months? there were simply no customers? says CTO, and later CEO? Sonnet? Vladimir Morozyuk.

In dire need of funds? Sonnet? turned to customers for help. Immediately after the 1998 crisis, the company launched the ?Anti-Crisis? with an impressive down payment (about 2500 USD), by paying which the subscriber could talk for the rest of his life without restrictions within the Moscow region for 25 USD per month. Competitors? Sonnet? There were no such plans at the time. ? Investments in "Anti-Crisis" justified themselves in less than a year?, ? says the company's senior partner?Creditconsulting? Yuri Istomin.

In total, according to the former general director of the company Mikhail Susov, 2000-3000 subscribers connected to the tariff, and the company received about 5 MUSD for network construction. And by the summer of 1999, the company announced that it had managed to win 10,000 subscribers. According to ACM-Consulting, another non-GSM operator, Moscow Cellular Communications, already had 87,000 subscribers by that time. MTS in Moscow already had 275,000 subscribers by that time, VimpelCom? ? 198,000.

Wrong size
Subscriber growth has turned for ?Sonnet? into a problem. The network was originally built on the equipment of the American company Qualcomm? developer of CDMA technology. ?PeCom? built a network on credit? a trade credit for 15 MUSD was provided by Qualcomm itself. Return this loan?PeCom? started in 1999? from his own funds received from the first subscribers, and, according to Susov, he paid most of it. But a year after the launch, it turned out that the capacity of Qualcomm equipment did not allow serving more than 10,000 subscribers.

?This is a catastrophe, because the demand for Sonnet's services is high?, ? Susov said at one of the press conferences. ?PeCom? announced new tender. By December 2000, a network worth 24 MUSD was built on the equipment of Lucent Technologies (also under a trade credit scheme). ?PeCom? reported that he had paid off the loan in full. General investment in the network? Sonnet? amounted to 50 MUSD, according to former executives of the company.

Despite the fact that in 1999 ?PeKom? the equipment had to be completely updated, in 2001 the company showed the first profit (see the table for more details). ? It was a very stable, profitable business?, ? says Mikhail Susov. But the profitability of the business was constantly supported by its main shareholder? MTU-Inform?. It was the main provider of telecommunications capacity ( mobile traffic) for the ?Sonnet?. This item accounts for about 20% of operating expenses of cellular companies. "MTU-Inform", according to Susov's memoirs, provided its services on credit, without insisting on an immediate return. As can be seen from the company's balance sheet, in 1998 ?PeKom? owed 152 million rubles to related structures, in 1999? 60 million rubles in 2000? 364 million rubles in 2001? RUB 206 million

Help? MTU-Inform? not only ?Sonnet?, but also its owners-individuals. According to AFK Sistema's GDR prospectus, in July and August 2000 Lagutin, Rabovsky and Alimbekov sold their shares in PeCom? companies? MTU-Inform? (14%) and? MTU-Intel? (7%) for 9.17 MUSD. As a result, the holding Sistema-Telecom, which by that time included MTU-Inform? and ?MTU-Intel?, became the owner of more than 80% of the shares of ?PeCom?. ?For the development of Sonnet, investments were needed, and which private investors?? ? explains the deputy general director? Systems Telecom? Alexander Vronets shareholder decision? Sonnet?. A former top manager of one of the? daughters? ?Systems? claims that Lagutin, Rabovsky and Alimbekov at one time bought out shares in the authorized capital for symbolic amounts. Founders? Sonnet? did not begin to talk with? Vedomosti? about this theme.

under permanent ban
Adherence to the standard, not officially recognized in Russia, played with? Sonnet? bad joke. On the eve of the launch of the network, in June 1998, the State Committee for Communications suddenly changed the terms of licenses for CDMA-800? now it was written in them that the operators provide "radio access services". From now on? PeCom? and other operators could only deal with fixed-line communications.

As a result, several dozen CDMA-800 operators, including Sonnet, formally ceased to be mobile. ? The situation turned out to be absurd: it's like if a person bought a plane, and he would be allowed to use it only in the city as a taxi?,? recalls Susov. According to the new procedure, operators were required to conclude contracts for subscription services at a specific address. People took such phones out of the house at their own peril and risk: a policeman who checked the permission for the phone could well have confiscated it. But it was impossible to accuse the operator of illegal activity, says Susov.

In 1999, the State Committee for Communications issued another order, according to which only CDMA-800 fixed telephone sets could be imported into Russia. According to Susov, mobile handsets came to Russia almost exclusively in gray? ways. In April 2000, a new misfortune: the State Commission for Radio Frequencies (SCRF) decided by 2010 to give frequencies in the 800 MHz band under digital television.

Subsequently, the? Sonnet? there were more and more problems with the Ministry of Communications. In October and November 2002, Gossvyaznadzor suspended the license of ?PeCom? for non-compliance? fixedness?. ? Have we never had an assistant in the face of a communications regulator?, ? complains Susov. These problems hurt the well-being of the operator: according to Susov, the banks refused? Sonet? in loans, citing the fact that the company is constantly under threat of closure.

At one of the press conferences, Minister of Communications Leonid Reiman explained the reason for the dislike for the CDMA-800 standard in general and for? Sonnet? in particular: ?Standard good? range is bad?. The Ministry of Communications considered CDMA-800 as an alternative to classic wired telephone communication in hard-to-reach places, said Alexander Krupnov, then chairman of the State Communications Committee. ? We never seriously considered CDMA networks in the 800 band, because due to the small bandwidth they could not have a large subscriber base?, ? explains Krupnov.

Sonnet? not resigned to the loss of his? mobility? and tried to cancel the decree of the Ministry of Communications through the antimonopoly ministry. In 2002, the MAP recognized the decision of the State Committee for Radio Frequencies to close networks in the 800th band as contrary to the law? On competition? and ordered the commission to correct the violations. Then? Sonnet? managed to ensure that the Moscow Arbitration Court invalidated the requirement of the Ministry of Communications to? fix? companies. And in December 2002, the Ministry of Communications changed its mind about the CDMA standard. Reiman signed the order "On the federal network of cellular mobile communications of the IMT-MC-450 standard in the 450 MHz frequency band?", which recognized CDMA as a federal standard, but in the 450 MHz band. Based on it, outdated NMT-450 networks should be upgraded.

The heavenly net is more important
In May 2003 ?Sistema Telecom? announced the further development of the ?Sonnet? unpromising and fired the then CEO of the company, Vladimir Morozyuk. ? This decision was on the verge of unexpected ?, ? acknowledges Morozyuk. But the first deputy general director? System Telecom? Alexander Vronets calls liquidation? Sonnet? ?a conscious decision? ? in the 800 MHz band, the development of CDMA was considered unpromising. The stake was placed on the company ?Sky Link?, to which it was proposed to subscribers of ?Soneta?. ?Sky Link? ? is this an umbrella under which we have gathered NMT and CDMA operators?, ? explains Vronets.

Deciding? to turn? ?Sonnet?, ?System? wrote off 19.3 MUSD for losses. Losses, it was said in the AFK reporting, fell on the goodwill of ?PeCom? ? reputation, brand, etc. In the summer of 2004 ?System? appointed CEO? Sky Link? and ?PeCom? Rais Rozinov. At the same time, it was announced that from mid-September 2004 new connections would be terminated and a program to transfer 80,000 Sonnet subscribers to the Sky Link network would begin. Last day of work? Sonnet? became March 28, 2005.

?The merger with Sky Link was the best development option for Sonnet?, ? says Andrey Beskorovayny, deputy head of the Federal Communications Agency. ? Sonet initially had the wrong composition of shareholders, they forgot to include the "necessary" people there, hence the troubles of the operator ?,? considers the general director and co-owner of the Volga operator SMARTS Gennady Kiryushin. At the same time, in his opinion, the operator's business model was successful. ? It really was a very efficient business that brought good financial returns?, ? Vronets says.

Alfa Bank analyst Svetlana Sukhanova believes that? Sonnet? was a rather controversial project. In her opinion, if you look at its financial performance, the company can hardly be called successful: the accumulated investments exceeded the accumulated EBITDA for 1999-2003. On the other hand, Sukhanov adds, the ?Sonnet? were the most loyal subscribers, and the features of CDMA-800 technology made it possible to offer unlimited plans, while practically not overloading the network. Thus, the company constantly provided its shareholders with a stable financial flow.

?By the time of its closure, Sonnet was profitable, but due to administrative restrictions imposed on the CDMA-800, it had no prospects for independent development?, ? says the CEO? System Telecom? Vladimir Lagutin. According to him, ?System? could not simultaneously develop three cellular operators of different standards, which is why the decision was made to join? PeCom? in ?Sky Link?. While the operating activities of?PeCom? did not pay back all the investments of the main shareholder, taking into account the company's assessment when contributing to the authorized capital? Sky Link? the project turned out to be profitable, notes Lagutin.

Although? Sky Link? and ?Sonnet? work in the same standard equipment? Sonnet? will have to be dismantled, these are the features of the technology. However? Sky Link? subscribers can get? Sonnet?. They were not only the most highly profitable on the Moscow market (one user, according to Sonnet, brought about 70 USD per month), but also the most devoted. In 2001, according to Susov, the rate of subscriber churn from Sonnet? was twice lower than that of GSM-operators. ?Sonnet? constantly introduced interesting tariff plans, launched new services and very carefully monitored subscription service. ?Otherwise, our customers would not be so loyal?, ? explains Wronets.

How to keep a subscriber
Now before the successor? Sonnet? ? ?Sky Linkom? the task is to get subscribers? Sonnet?. But some of them met the news of the closure of the network with hostility. ? It turns out that we should just throw away our cell phones, for which we paid a lot of money at one time, and buy "skylink" handsets?? ? the subscriber is perplexed? Sonnet? Sergei Krakhmalov. Yuri Istomin before closing? Sonnet? transferred to ?Sky Link? but gave it up? not satisfied with the quality: The connection was lost, often the interlocutor was not heard? As a result, he took an unlimited tariff for voice communication? Beeline? and plans to use ?Sky Link? only for mobile internet.

Users blame the operator and the long queues at the only office where the transfer is carried out from? Sonnet? in "Sky Link", and on the meager information about transition programs. The last circumstance was actively used by swindlers who began to offer subscribers? Sonnet? on Internet forums, buy contracts and phones of the outgoing operator from them for next to nothing. A special website was also created, which offered help to those who did not want to waste time in the queue for re-registration from one network to another. For 2 800 rubles. The intermediaries took care of everything.

?Perhaps everything was not perfect for us, but there have not yet been precedents for the closure of such a large cellular network?, ? says Rozinova. According to her, Sonet subscribers who switched to Sky Link have completely retained the numbers, tariff plans and services they used. Each subscriber who changed the network before February 28 was given free of charge? skylink? phone for 150 USD. Anyone who wanted to get a more expensive device had to pay the missing amount.

The situation with the quality of communication, according to Rozinova, is explained by the fact that the network bandwidth is already at the limit. ?By May, we will increase its capacity, and the situation will return to normal?, ? reassures Rozinov. Besides, technical capabilities do not allow transferring more than 30-35 people from network to network at the same time, explains the head of "Sky Linka". According to Vladimir Lagutin from Sistema Telecom, about 60,000 out of 90,000 subscribers of Sonnet? switched to ?Sky Link?. Until April 25 subscribers? Sonnet? will be able to connect to? Sky Link? on preferential terms. All in all? Sky Link? there are now more than 90,000 subscribers in the Moscow region.

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Cellular network SONET- trademark Russian company“Personal Communications” (registered with the Moscow Registration Chamber on November 21, 1995), under which it provided mobile communication services in the IS-95 standard (CDMA technology) in the 800 MHz frequency range.

On August 17, 1998 JSC "Personal Communications" started its activity as a cellular operator. They specialized mainly in relatively inexpensive unlimited mobile communications. The general director was Mikhail Valeryevich Susov. The parent company is MTU-Inform (a subsidiary of AFK Sistema). The number of subscribers when the network was closed was about 100,000. Subscribers were provided with new telephone sets, as well as telephone numbers that changed during the transition.

The Company obtained licenses to provide radiotelephony services in Moscow and the Moscow region (License of the State Committee for Communications No. 17454), Vladimirskaya (License of the State Committee for Communications No. 8956), Tverskaya (License of the State Committee for Communications No. 8959), Yaroslavl (License of the State Committee for Communications No. 8960) and Tula (License of the State Committee for Communications No. 9827) areas.

In 1998, a network was put into operation based on Qualcomm's network equipment. With the rapid growth in the number of subscribers, there were problems with throughput networks. In 1999 A decision was made to replace the existing network infrastructure. During 2000 SONET cellular network has made a full-scale replacement of the network infrastructure and installed the latest generation of network equipment manufactured by the world's leading supplier "Lucent Technologies". At the end of 2000 and the first quarter of 2001, networks were put into operation in the Vladimir, Tver, Yaroslavl and Tula regions.

From the very beginning, the company did not adhere to the standard division of the user audience by solvent, age, and other levels, but proceeded from the volume of customer needs for communication services. SONET cellular network is the first operator to offer its users unlimited tariff plans aimed at multi-speaking subscribers. In 2001, tariff plans with per-second billing were introduced, which are of interest to subscribers who use the phone for a small number of calls.

The operator's network closed in 2004. The reason was the refusal of the state. regulator in extending the license for the frequency range under the pretext of freeing the frequency in the 800 MHz region for the development of digital television (at the moment - 2017 - frequencies are used for DVB-T2 digital television broadcasting in Moscow). For some time, the operator was a sponsor of the intellectual game "

Skylink, Chernozem Region Cellular Communications and Rostelecom:

SCH (Skylink) after the reorganization into Astarta CJSC, throughout Russia was sold with all the giblets of licenses (including for GSM) to Rostelecom. Rostelecom is building its UMTS networks in many regions of the Russian Federation and plans to become the fourth 3G+ operator in Moscow in December. Once the communications monopoly covers all areas from Anadyr to Kaliningrad, Skylink will be out of the game forever. Despite the fact that now we have Ev-Do Rev. conferences in Europe. C, which allows speeds up to 500 Mb/s. in both directions, Russia is unlikely to pull something like this in the next 5-10 years. Do not forget for how many years your Ministry of Communications has been allocating licenses, and if under Reiman there was at least some hope for the future of SkyLink, now it is gone. The operator's phones are outdated by 8-10 years, the flagship, works on the OS Windows Mobile 6, for which there is almost no supported, modern application. Most likely, the IMT-MC 450 MHz standard will be used for telephony in remote areas where it is very difficult to lay a cable, devices like the Nexpring NP10T will be installed to connect handsets via RJ11 and possibly access the Internet at a speed of about 1 mb. / s .. This the best thing that can happen to the company, in the worst case, it will be abolished along with all obligations to former subscribers, perhaps even with all licenses, who actually need GSM. Returning back to the reorganization of SCH into Astarta, it is worth noting that this was a forced step by the company to continue providing communication services in Voronezh and the region, the old company would have been dragged through the courts by deceived SCH subscribers in Kursk, Belgorod, Orel and Tambov, who remained with NMT Nutcrackers and positive balances after May 30, 2005. After waiting for the promised 3 years, they moved to the courts, not regretting spending more than the positive balance on the balance sheet. By the way, the main role in this case was played by human stupidity, because the company, which barely covered Voronezh and hardly gained 10,000 subscribers, would hardly be able to compensate for anything.

Sonnet and Skylink:

Now about the Sonnet. It seems to me that Wikipedia has enough information for 9 years as a late operator. I can only add that the cellular operator Sonet, which appeared on August 17, 1998, at the height of the crisis, worked in the IS-95 standard. Despite the unique rates, beautiful numbers and modern handsets, the operator was constantly pursued by failures. The mere fact that its start fell on the crisis of 1998 is far from all the troubles. The operator chose the CDMA standard in the 800 MHz band (IS-95), as history has shown, not very well. At first, the company had to fight with the Ministry of Communications, trying to prove that this standard can be used not only for wireless fixed communications. Later, the so-called “2010 problem” arose: in April 2000, the State Commission on Radio Frequencies (SCRF) made a strategic decision regarding all cellular networks in the 800 MHz band (CDMA and AMPS / DAMPS standards). By 2010, digital television began operating in this range in Russia, so mobile operators had to abandon it. With the support of the Ministry of Antimonopoly Policy, Sonnet won a victory over the Ministry of Communications in courts. The courts found the requirement to work exclusively in a fixed mode illegal, and also protected the Sonnet from the "problem 2010". However, these victories remained on paper, because the main shareholder of the operator, AFK Sistema, or rather its former division Sistema Telecom, which included Sonnet, decided not to conflict with the Ministry of Communications. The fact that the Sonnet network would cease to exist became known already in May 2004. Previously, the shareholders of Sistema Telecom, a structure that included Sonet, recognized the development of a CDMA (IS-95) network as unpromising. New connections to Sonet ceased in September 2004, however, the operator's representatives assured that the network would continue to work until the last subscriber. However, in reality, it turned out that the Moscow network worked only until March of next year, despite the fact that it continued to serve about 40 thousand subscribers. March 27, 2005 was the last day of operation of the Sonnet cellular network. The next day, the operator's license expired, and with it, all handsets connected to this network fell silent. Subscribers were “driven away” to SkyLink, they had to change their polyphonic, color modern phones to Synertek S-200, Hyundai-Curitel HX-510B and Huawei ETS 388 nutcrackers, which, in addition to calls, could not even write SMS, but if this bandura was turned to PC, it was possible to access the Internet at a speed of 153 kb. / sec., which was 3G speed according to Skylink (of course, they were silent about EDGE). Beautiful numbers in the code +7-501, the subscribers were replaced with regular +7-901, also without asking.

Kodotel, Votek-Mobile and Tele2:

December 19, 1997 Closed Joint Stock Company "Kodotel" receives a license from the State Communications Committee for the CDMA IS-95 standard number 9070 to provide communication services. Kodotel becomes the pioneer of the first CDMA systems in Russia. Like Sonnet, Kodotel falls under the 2010 problem, but it is not going to give up. Of course, Kodotel does not have that kind of money to sue in Moscow and win like Sonnet, but it becomes a popular operator in the Voronezh region and squeezes the maximum out of the network, issuing a city six-digit number to each subscriber to connect to unlimited tariffs. As a gift, given unlimited Internet at low speed, which is quite good for Dial-up times. Also, Kodotel organized generous promotions for subscribers, gave gold jewelry when buying a new phone, raffled off cars, etc. In the same distant times, in the city of Voronezh, there was another independent operator, Votek-Mobile, which has been operating since 1995 in the same frequency range (800 mhz), but in the AMPS standard. Votek-Mobile also waged its own war, hoping to extend the license for the range at least until 2010, but its attempts were unsuccessful. In 2003 - 2006, the Swedish operator Tele2 came to Russia, which hoped to conquer all of Russia with its cheap tariffs, buying up small regional operators, in Voronezh Tele2 bought Votek-Mobile, pocketing several tens of thousands of subscribers. By the way, Tele2 was counting on a fair game and thought that it would not be difficult to obtain a license in Moscow, after St. Petersburg, but that was not the case. Courts, raids and other delights of life, or rather existence in Russia, simply did not give them a chance, like many others. But let's get back to the Kodotel company, which still managed to get a license, or rather the right to life until 2010. "Kodotel" continued to develop and provided a high level of service for its subscribers, in fact, subscribers appreciated this in their favorite operator. After all, subscribers of small operators are very conservative and appreciate just the same little things that are inaccessible to a simple subscriber of the big three. On the eve of 2010, Kodotel makes the last push to save its own life - it participates in the competition for a GSM-1800 license and wins it. However, by this time, other operators were already working in the 3G standard, and the century switched from “voice” to “Internet”. Even a free connection to the network with a city number did not save Kodotel from inevitable death. In the spring of 2013, it was announced that Kodotel was buying Tele2. By the way, in the same spring, Tele2 bought VTB Bank, which mothballed the operator, until better times in the state in which it is. Of course, VTB squeaked something about how they would quickly get a license for Moscow, but quickly shut up.

Rostelecom and the Big Four:

While everyone was looking at the top three, in front of the very nose, a non-mobile operator was buying up small cellular networks, namely:

1. NSS, which provides its services in eight regions of the Volga region: Nizhny Novgorod, Penza, Saratov, Ulyanovsk, Orenburg regions, the Republic of Mordovia, the Chuvash Republic and the Republic of Tatarstan.
2. Elaine-GSM operating in the Republic of Mari El.
3. Tambov-GSM, Tambov. and Tambov region.
4. Volgograd-GSM operating in the Volgograd region.
5. Utel operating in seven regions of the Urals: Perm Territory, Kurgan, Sverdlovsk, Tyumen, Chelyabinsk regions), Khanty-Mansiysk, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Districts.
6. ETC, a GSM mobile operator in six regions of Siberia: Krasnoyarsk region, Republic of Khakassia, Republic of Tyva, Kemerovo Region, Altai Territory and Republic of Altai.
7. Baikalwestcom, a mobile operator of GSM and CDMA standards in the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Buryatia.
8. Akos, a mobile operator of the GSM-1800 standard in Primorsky Krai.
9. Dalsvyaz GSM operating in five regions of the Far East: the Amur Region, the Jewish Autonomous Region, the Kamchatka Territory, the Magadan and Sakhalin Regions.

In the summer of 2013, all these networks ceased to exist under their brands, becoming Rostelecom. Immediately August 2013, Rostelecom launches its own mobile network 3G standard in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, and in December it is going to launch a cellular network in Moscow and the Moscow Region. In the style of Ostap Bender, Rostelecom may oust the same VimpelCom operating under the Beeline brand in the near future. Personally, it seems to me, and by the way I am rarely mistaken, that the purchase of the Tele2 operator by the state bank VTB is nothing more than a state scam. Who knows, he will understand, because VimpelCom wanted to buy Tele2 much more expensive than VTB, but the Swedes were threatened, saying that either so much or nothing. The Swedes, having finally understood “how business is done in Russia”, did not argue, exhaling with relief. After the launch of a cellular network in Moscow by Rostelecom, most likely Tele2 will be bought from VTB Bank, thus Rostelecom will be represented in almost all regions of Russia, with minimal tariffs to increase the subscriber base. Vimpelcom, closing the top three, will be fourth almost immediately, and fourth, as the practice of the cellular communications market in Russia shows, no one needs.

I remember when in the TV game “What? Where? When?" The smartest connoisseurs were given the “Golden SONET” (an ever-free telephone with the right to be inherited), many connoisseurs were envious. But even then, skeptics, looking at all this, grumbled "nothing lasts forever" and "wait and see." We lived, we saw: yes, nothing lasts forever, and “SONNET” is even more so.

On December 11, the Sistema Telecom company announced its intention to sell its stake in Personal Communications CJSC, which provides communication services under the SONET brand, in the near future. A decision was also made to stop the development of the infrastructure of the SONET network.

Answering questions from a Sotovik correspondent, Sistema Telecom President Alexander Goncharuk called SONET an “incomprehensible” project and said literally the following: we will sell SONET! I won't say who, it's not my secret. In the near future, as soon as we agree on the parameters of the transaction. I think it's a matter of months. This will be an amount equal to all the costs of building the network and no more, since we consider this project unpromising."

In itself, the announcement of the sale of SONET did not come as a surprise to analysts, but few expected that a decision would be made so soon.

The cellular network "SONET" began work in Moscow on August 1, 1998. SONET began to provide a new type of telephone service for those times - wireless subscriber access WLL (Wireless Local Loop) based on the latest CDMA digital code division technology. Having started its development from remote areas of the capital, the network rapidly expanded and by the end of 1999 covered the entire territory of Moscow and the nearest suburbs.

Already in September 1999, when MTU-Inform invested $17 million in the development of the fixed subscriber radio access (CDMA) network SONET, Alexander Goncharuk said that the company did not have a license for mobile communication complicates the cost recovery process.

Then, two years ago, Sistema Telecom, together with MTU-Inform, studied options for getting out of this situation. Apparently, the process was "accelerated" by the German shareholders of Sistema-Telecom.

Alexander Goncharuk himself admitted that the company had wanted to get rid of SONET for a long time: “Even when this project became our property, it could have been closed, but at that moment we would have lost money. limited development was to end in a sale, although, in general, CDMA technology is promising and its development is being started, for example, by MCC and Delta-Telecom.

With all the "prospects" of CDMA, the fate of "SONET" may befall other operators providing fixed subscriber radio access. According to Gazeta.Ru, Sistema-Telecom in the future may just as well get rid of another "unpromising" cellular enterprise - the Moskovskaya cellular”, which provides services in the outdated analog NMT-450 standard.