Communications in Russia - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Russia was among the first countries to introduce radio

Radio Day

Radio Day , Communications Workers' Day or Radio and Television Day is a commemoration of the development of radio in Russia...

and television

Timeline of the introduction of television in countries

This is a list of when the first publicly announced television broadcasts occurred in the mentioned countries. Non-public field tests and closed circuit demonstrations are not included....

. Due to the enormous size of the country Russia leads in the number of TV broadcast stations and repeaters. There were few channels in the Soviet time, but in the past two decades many new state-run and private-owned radio stations and TV channels

Television in Russia

Television in Russia was introduced in 1931, when Russia was still known as the Russian SFSR.- History :Between 1941 and 1945 all television broadcasts in the nation were interrupted because of Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union...

appeared. In 2005 a state-run English language Russia Today TV

RT (TV network)

RT, previously known as Russia Today, is a global multilingual television news network based in the Russian Federation run by the state-owned state-run RIA Novosti....

started broadcasting, and its Arabic version Rusiya Al-Yaum

Rusiya Al-Yaum

Rusiya Al-Yaum a Russian TV news channel broadcasting in Arabic and headquartered in Moscow, Russia...

was launched in 2007.

The telecommunications system in Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

have undergone significant changes since the 1980s, resulting in more than 1,000 companies licensed to offer communication services today. The foundation for liberalization of broadcasting was laid by the decree signed by the President of the USSR in 1990. Communication is mainly regulated through the Federal Law "On Communications" and the Federal Law "On Mass Media"

The Soviet-time "Ministry of communications of the RSFSR" was through 1990s transformed to "Ministry for communications and informatization" and in 2004 it was renamed to "Ministry of information technologies and communications (Mininformsvyazi)", and in 2008 – "Ministry of connections and mass commnunications (Minkomsvyaz)".

The "Ministry of press and information of the RSFSR" was in 1990s renamed to "Ministry of Press, Broadcasting and Mass Communications (Minpechati)" and in 2004 it was turned into the "Federal Agency on Press and Mass Communications (Rospechat

Rospechat

Federal Agency on Press and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation is the regulating state agency within the hierarchy of modern Russian Government...

)" which was no longer a standalone ministry but a subdivision to the "Ministry of Culture and Mass Communications" (originally "Ministry of culture of the RSFSR"). In 2008 it was re-subordinated back to "Minvsyazi".

FttX infrastructure has been expanded rapidly in recent years, principally by regional players including Southern Telecom Company, SibirTelecom, ER Telecom and Golden Telecom. Collectively, these players are having a significant impact of fiber broadband in regional areas, and are enabling operators to take advantage of consumer demand for faster access and bundled services.

Telephone

Telephones – main lines in use: 25.019 million (1995)

Telephones – mobile cellular: 161,000,000 (2007)

The telephone systems in the 60 regional capitals have modern digital infrastructures; cellular services, both analog and digital, are available in many areas. In the rural areas, the telephone services are still outdated, inadequate, and low density.

Until the end of 1991 (the end of the USSR), the sole fixed line telephone operator in the country was the Ministry of Communications of the USSR. The state possessed all telecommunications structure and access networks. In 1994 the investment communication company (OJSC “Sviazinvest”) was established by the Presidential Decree #1989 dated 10 October 1994 “On the specific features of the state management of the electric communication network for public use in Russian Federation”. The authorised capital of OJSC “Sviazinvest” was formed by the consolidation of federal shares of joint stock companies acting in the area of electric communications and established during the privatisation of the state enterprises for electric communications. The seven regional incumbents which make up Svyazinvest, majority-owned by the government, in early 2011 merged with the key subsidiary Rostelecom. The move created an integrated company based on Rostelecom which will be better placed to exploit economies of scale in coming years.

Cross-country digital trunk

Circuit switching

Circuit switching is a methodology of implementing a telecommunications network in which two network nodes establish a dedicated communications channel through the network before the nodes may communicate. The circuit guarantees the full bandwidth of the channel and remains connected for the...

lines run from Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

to Vladivostok

Vladivostok

The city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik, the height of which is 257 m...

, and from Moscow to Novorossiysk

Novorossiysk

Novorossiysk is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. It is the country's main port on the Black Sea and the leading Russian port for importing grain. It is one of the few cities honored with the title of the Hero City. Population: -History:...

.

Liberalization of the long distance communication market is another market driver. Rostelecom lost its monopoly when new players obtained licences for the provision of long distance communication services. Currently, there are about 32 active companies in this space, including MTT, Golden telecom, TransTeleCom and Synterra. Russian regulation stipulates that new players must build their own networks. The growth of traffic between Europe and Asia is an additional opportunity. more than 6,000 km of international communication cables were built during the first nine months of 2007, representing a 48.5% increase on 2006, according to the Russian Ministry of Communication and Mass Media.

Russian PSTN (Public switched telephone network)

Russian PSTN

Public switched telephone network

The public switched telephone network is the network of the world's public circuit-switched telephone networks. It consists of telephone lines, fiber optic cables, microwave transmission links, cellular networks, communications satellites, and undersea telephone cables, all inter-connected by...

has specific features. Lowest part of this model is example of the local network in the middle and large cities. Central Office (CO) is connected to the tandem exchange (TE). In some cases, COs are connected by the directly. Such possibility is shown by the dotted lines for three COs connected to the TEIII. COs may be directly connected with the Toll Exchange. This option is shown by the dotted line for the COII1. Automatic Branch Exchange (PABX) is served by the nearest CO. All TEs are forming the meshed network. Up to 90s, TE was independent element of the local network. Operators did not use the equipment combined functions Tandem and Toll Exchanges. So, TE provided connections between COs of the local network, and access to the Toll Exchange. A function of the Toll Exchange is to establish connections for the long-distance and international calls. Last type of calls is served by the Gateway (GW). Processing of the local calls is performed by the COs and TEs. If subscriber dials digit "8" (prefix of the long-distance connection in the national PSTN) all further
processing of the call is a function of a Toll Exchange. Numbering plan for the cellular networks based on the Area Code (three digits) and number of mobile terminal (seven digits). In this case, Area Code defines the concrete cellular network.

Mobile phone

There are three mobile phone service brands that cover all Russia: Beeline

Beeline (telecommunications)

Beeline is the trademark of the third largest Russian telecommunication operator, VimpelCom . Its headquarters are located in Moscow. Beeline's brand was designed by Wolff Olins as a re-brand for their old corporate identity, assisted by Marina Willerr.-Activity:...

, MegaFon

MegaFon

MegaFon ,previously known as North-West GSM, is the second largest mobile phone operator in Russia. It works in the GSM and UMTS standard. Its main competitors are Bee Line GSM and Mobile TeleSystems ....

and Mobile TeleSystems

Mobile TeleSystems

MTS is the largest mobile operator in Russia and CIS with over 102,4 million subscribers as of 31 December 2009.Having started in the Moscow license zone in 1994, МТS in 1997 received licenses for further areas and began expansion, later entering other countries of the CIS...

. The access points (AP) are built in Long-Distance Telephone Exchanges (LDTE), Russian fixed line communication infrastructure which is present in every province. As a result, interconnecting mobile operator only needs to create "last kilometer" circuits to the regional LDTE, the requirement already imposed by its mobile license.

In May 2008 3G

3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...

network was deplyed in St. Petersburg, in Kazan

Kazan

Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...

in June of that year, and in Sochi

Sochi

Sochi is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated just north of Russia's border with the de facto independent republic of Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast. Greater Sochi sprawls for along the shores of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains...

in July of that year. By 2010 3G

networks were covered largely most of Russia.

On April 2011 MegaFon has deployed High Definition voice services on its Moscow and Sochi GSM and UMTS networks. As the key supplier of core and access networks to MegaFon, Nokia Siemens Networks was responsible for the HD voice implementation, which is also a world first for a commercial GSM network.

In early 2011 Rostelecom signed a memorandum of understanding with the three main MNOs to develop a joint LTE network using the infrastructure to be built by Yota. The network will expand LTE availability to 70 million Russians in 180 cities by 2014, vastly improving regional broadband availability in coming years.

Radio

Radio Rossii

- History :Radio Rossii began broadcasting in December 10, 1990. The radio station is part of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise VGTRK, which also includes television channels "Russia", "Sport", "Culture", "Vesti", and "Bibigon", as well as radio stations "Radio Yunost", "Mayak", "Culture" and...

is the primary public radio station in Russia. Digital radio

Digital radio

Digital radio has several meanings:1. Today the most common meaning is digital radio broadcasting technologies, such as the digital audio broadcasting system, also known as Eureka 147. In these systems, the analog audio signal is digitized into zeros and ones, compressed using formats such as...

broadcasting is developing fast with the Voice of Russia

Voice of Russia

Voice of Russia is the Russian government's international radio broadcasting service owned by the All-Russia State Television and Radio Company. Its predecessor Radio Moscow was the official international broadcasting station of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.-Early years:Radio Moscow...

announced on 1 July 2004, the successful implementation, and planned expansion, of its DRM

Digital Radio Mondiale

Digital Radio Mondiale is a set of digital audio broadcasting technologies designed to work over the bands currently used for AM broadcasting, particularly shortwave...

broadcasts on short-wave and medium-wave. In September 2009 the Radio Frequency Service, the national regulator of broadcasting, has decided on the DRM has the standard for mediumwave

Mediumwave

Medium wave is the part of the medium frequency radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. For Europe the MW band ranges from 526.5 kHz to 1606.5 kHz...

and shortwave

Shortwave

Shortwave radio refers to the upper MF and all of the HF portion of the radio spectrum, between 1,800–30,000 kHz. Shortwave radio received its name because the wavelengths in this band are shorter than 200 m which marked the original upper limit of the medium frequency band first used...

services.

Radios: 61.5 million (1998)

Radio broadcasting stations: AM 420, FM 447, shortwave 56 (1998).

Television

Privately owned stations are often owned by industrial groups either controlled by the State or with close connections to the government so that they can be called semi-state. Both state and private stations can have a national status (broadcasters that reach over 70% of the national territory), or a regional, district or local status. Local partners are often united in bigger networks.

In the 1970s and 1980s, television become the preeminent mass medium. In 1988 approximately 75 million households owned television sets, and an estimated 93 percent of the population watched television. Moscow, the base from which most of the television stations broadcast, transmitted some 90 percent of the country's programs, with the help of more than 350 stations and nearly 1,400 relay facilities.

There are about 15,000 TV transmitters. Development of domestic digital TV transmitters, led within "Multichannel" research program, had already been finished. New domestic digital transmitters have been developed and installed in Nizhniy Novgorod and Saint Petersburg in 2001–2002.

The state public television broadcaster is Pervy kanal (Channel One).

Internet

Broadband internet access is becoming more readily available in Russia, and as a result the internet is growing as an avenue for Russian commerce, with 42% of internet users in Russia shopping online, and 38% using online banking services.

IPTV

The IPTV developing fast as a cheap alternative to regular television. On July 2011 Rostelecom started a plan to unify IPTV services in Russia's regions offering standard features such as linear and on-demand TV along with new interactive and OTT services provided by the operator to various mobile devices. For this Russian company SmartLabs was chosen.

Country code top-level domain: RU (Also SU – left from Soviet Union)

International connection

Russia is connected internationally by three undersea fiber-optic cables; digital switches in several cities provide more than 50,000 lines for international calls; satellite earth stations provide access to Intelsat

Intelsat

Intelsat, Ltd. is a communications satellite services provider.Originally formed as International Telecommunications Satellite Organization , it was—from 1964 to 2001—an intergovernmental consortium owning and managing a constellation of communications satellites providing international broadcast...

, Intersputnik

Intersputnik

The Intersputnik International Organization of Space Communications commonly known as Intersputnik is an international satellite communications services organization founded on November 15, 1971, in Moscow by the Soviet Union along with a group of eight formerly socialist states...

, Eutelsat

Eutelsat

Eutelsat S.A. is a French-based satellite provider. Providing coverage over the entire European continent, as well as the Middle East, Africa, India and significant parts of Asia and the Americas, it is one of the world's three leading satellite operators in terms of revenues.Eutelsat’s satellites...

, Inmarsat

Inmarsat

Inmarsat plc is a British satellite telecommunications company, offering global, mobile services. It provides telephony and data services to users worldwide, via portable or mobile terminals which communicate to ground stations through eleven geostationary telecommunications satellites...

, and Orbita

Orbita

Orbita is a Soviet-Russian system of broadcasting and delivering TV signals via satellites. It is considered to be the first national network of satellite television....

. In May 2006, Rostelecom

Rostelecom

Rostelecom network, which as of August 2006, covered Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar, Volgograd, Stavropol, and planned to cover the whole of Russia by the end of 2006.-Satellite network:...

launched a new fiber-optic data transmission line linking Russia's Far Eastern cities of Belogorsk

Belogorsk, Amur Oblast

Belogorsk is a town in Amur Oblast, Russia, located on the Tom River, a tributary of the Zeya. Population: 67,400 ; 53,000 ; 34,000 .-History:...

and Blagoveshchensk

Blagoveshchensk

Blagoveshchensk is a city and the administrative center of Amur Oblast, Russia. Population: -Early history of the region:The early residents of both sides of the Amur in the region of today's Blagoveshchensk were the Daurs and Duchers...

with the Chinese city of Heihe

Heihe

Heihe is a city in Heilongjiang, China.It is located at , on the Russian border, on the south bank of the Amur River, across the river from the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk...

on the Russian border. On May 2006 TransTeleCom Company and North Korea’s Ministry of Communications have signed an agreement for the construction and joint operation of a fiber-optic transmission line (FOTL) in the section of the Khasan

Khasan

Khasan is an urban locality in Khasansky District of Primorsky Krai, Russia. Population: Khasan is the only Russian settlement on the border with North Korea. It lies near Lake Khasan and the Tumen River...

–Tumangang

Tumangang

Tumangang Workers' District is a town in Sonbong, Rason, North Korea. It is the closest town of North Korea to the border with Russia. Tumangang sits on the Tumen River, and across the river is the Russian town of Khasan. A train connects Khasan with Tumangang and from there to Rason. A road also...

railway checkpoint. This is the first direct land link between Russia and North Korea. TTC’s partner in the design, construction, and connection of the communication line from the Korean side to the junction was Korea Communication Company of North Korea’s Ministry of Communications. The technology transfer was be built around STM-1

STM-1

The STM-1 is the SDH ITU-T fiber optic network transmission standard. It has a bit rate of 155.52 Mbit/s. Higher levels go up by a factor of 4 at a time: the other currently supported levels are STM-4, STM-16, STM-64 and STM-256...

level digital equipment with the possibility of further increasing bandwidth

Bandwidth

Bandwidth is the difference between the upper and lower frequencies in a contiguous set of frequencies. It is typically measured in hertz, and may sometimes refer to passband bandwidth, sometimes to baseband bandwidth, depending on context...

. The construction was completed in 2007.