Space communications — view from the mountains: Alexey Volin, General Director of RSCC, spoke at the ‘Space for People’ forum about large-scale import substitution in the industry

The share of import substitution in the production network of RSCC will reach 90% in 2024, said Alexey Volin, General Director of RSCC at the digital forum ‘Space for People’. The event takes place on September 19-20 in the village of Arkhyz, on the territory of the special astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

"Today we live in such a time when we can rely only on our own strength in critical areas of the economy. This is our new reality for many years. Now we cannot do without creating new satellites, or rather, entire satellite systems, because one spacecraft cannot solve all the problems. RSCC has big plans to update the constellation in geostationary orbit; a fully domestic satellite is already in the manufacturing process. In its payload devices, the imported electronic component base has been replaced by the Russian one by 65%, and in the platform devices - by 91%," said Alexey Volin, who also moderated the plenary session and the joint thematic track of the event. He stressed that the projects to upgrade the orbital constellation should further strengthen the country's position in import substitution.

General Director of RSCC listed what goals the industry will face in the coming years. According to him, representatives of the industry need to:

• identify a place and niche in the market for major players;
• develop and implement universal receiving equipment;
• create IFC solutions for Russian aircraft at the stage of the production;
• optimize terrestrial networks;
• develop backup systems;
• think about pricing policy, avoid dumping;
• ensure a smooth transition to protectionism in the field of import substitution.

"It is necessary to completely abandon foreign solutions not earlier than it will be possible to really saturate the Russian market with its own services. To do this, we can use the tools of the ICC ‘Satellite Communications’, radically restructuring its work. We must get rid of unnecessary bureaucracy and turn into an expert center, a platform for coordinating interests. The ICC should inform the authorities about interesting and important projects in the field of space communications and give an opinion on their usefulness and effectiveness," summed up Alexey Volin, General Director of the RSCC, who heads the specialized Industrial Competence Center.

Evgeny Buidinov, Deputy General Director for Communications Systems Development and Operation, Pavel Tatarenko Deputy General Director - Head of IT, and Anton Baklanov, Advisor to the General Director, also attended the forum. The event was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, regional authorities, as well as Russian Space Systems JSC, Amtel-Svyaz JSC, BUREAU 1440 LLC, Sitronics JSC, etc. The Forum was organized by the Government of the Karachayevo-Circassian Republic, the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media and Digital Forums LLC with the support of the ANO Digital Economy.