"Business Dialogue. Satellite Internet" round table hosted by RSCC is held online for the first time
The event was attended by managers and specialists of satellite communications operators, vendors and industry media. The experts discussed the first results of the joint partnership campaign "For the 75th Anniversary of the Great Victory" and topical issues of development of the satellite broadband access industry in contemporary conditions.
The conference was opened by Evgeny Buydinov, Deputy General Director for development and operation of RSCC communication systems. He greeted the participants and expressed hope that in the current conditions the online format of events will become a good alternative to the traditional live communication. Mikhail Glinka, Director of the Sales Department of RSCC Operator and Corporate Solutions, spoke about the details of the campaign "For the 75th Anniversary of the Great Victory" and its first results: "This promotion was originally conceived as a supplement to any rate schedules chosen by operators (except for "unlimited" ones). The campaign is intended for natural persons who connect to the Ka-band broadband in the period from April 21 to May 31 of this year. Until December 31, 2020, each connected subscriber will be provided with an additional 75 GB of traffic, which will be spent after using the main package. Before the start of our event, my partners and I briefly once again discussed the main results of the first week, and all agreed that it was too early to talk about any significant progress, of course, because very little time had passed, but a certain result was already there. For example, colleagues from Ka-Internet reported on the first physical connection and installation of the terminal and great interest from customers. Colleagues from Raduga-Internet reported about 4 connections; the operator Strizh has not yet made physical connections, but equipment has already been sent to the regions. Colleagues from Teleport reported on three connections and noted a great interest in the promo from users. Despite the difficult situation and the self-isolation regime in the country and in the world, we have seen the overall dynamics of new client connections over the last month."
In her speech Svetlana Sirotkina, General Director of KA-Internet JSC, emphasized that the company was happy to accept the idea of a special promo; KA-Internet participates in it with the involvement of its partners, RTCOMM Group and Astra-Internet LLC. The colleagues expect first serious results in early May. Mikhail Mutterperl, Commercial Director of RTCOMM Group, said that despite the coronavirus pandemic, the operator does not suspend the implementation of other proprietary marketing activities and does not record a decrease in demand for broadband service.
Andrei Romulov, General Director of Strizh LLC (Iskra Group), explained how the event was going in Siberia and the Far East: "We place our stake on collective access and provide 75 GB of additional traffic not only to subscribers who have connected to the broadband for the first time but also to our dealers." According to him, the volume of consumed traffic has increased significantly during the current period; messengers and video services have showed the biggest growth. The same trend was confirmed by Vadim Yuminov, General Director of Teleport LLC, saying that the total traffic consumed by Teleport subscribers increased by 30% on average. Denis Dianov, CEO of Raduga-Internet, commented on the action: "There is interest, it can be seen in the search queries, and by transitions from banners and content ads we have launched. Clicks and transitions have increased fivefold."
Konstantin Lanin, head of Hughes Network Systems representative office in Russia, CIS and Baltic countries, also joined the discussion. He confirmed the readiness of Hughes to provide equipment to newly connected subscribers on special conditions for the promo "For the 75th Anniversary of the Great Victory", and spoke about the situation in the international markets of satellite broadband due to coronavirus pandemic.
The round table participants also discussed the main difficulty of the last month's work: the transfer of Ka-band networks from Express-AM6 satellite. It was noted that the main part of the companies' forces was thrown to transfer clients in Ka-band from Express-AM6 satellite to other spacecraft, but at the same time, thanks to concerted and well-coordinated work with RSCC, it was possible to keep the situation under control.
Sergei Pekhterev, shareholder of KA-Internet JSC, summing up the results of the first weeks of work in the new conditions and of the promo "For the 75th Anniversary of the Great Victory", expressed the common opinion about the success of the promo and asked RSCC to extend the period of connection within its framework.