home » Registration » MGTS company management. Andrey Ershov, General Director of OAO MGTS

MGTS company management. Andrey Ershov, General Director of OAO MGTS

OJSC " Moscow city telephone network"- one of the largest local wireline communication companies in Europe. MGTS is part of the telecommunications business of AFK Sistema and is part of the Comstar-UTS group of companies. The operator serves more than 4.3 million subscribers, including 3.6 million - individuals.

Assets

There are 527 telephone exchanges on the MGTS network. The company's payphone network currently includes about 7,000 devices. The share of the main telephone sets of MGTS in the Moscow fixed-line communication market is 77.2%, the share in the market of private users is 97.8%. Tariffs for the main service - local telephone connections - are regulated by the state.

Since 2004, MGTS has been carrying out a large-scale reconstruction of the network, which will be completed in 2012. The company's network will be completely digital. Now the digitalization of the MGTS network is about 50%, and by the end of 2007 it will reach, according to forecasts, 54%. Every year, the company puts into operation more than 500 thousand numbers, most of which is used to replace outdated equipment.

June 2018 squad

Ershov Andrey Viktorovich - Advisor to the President of MTS
Kamensky Andrey Mikhailovich - Vice President for Finance, Investments, Mergers and Acquisitions of MTS
Kornya Alexey Valerievich - President of MTS
Nikolaev Vyacheslav Konstantinovich is the vice president for marketing of MTS
Plotnikov Sergey Alexandrovich - Director of the Department for work with the MTS business market
Ushatsky Andrey Eduardovich is the vice president for equipment and IT of MTS
Khrenkov Vladimir Vladimirovich - Director of the MTS Innovation Center
Shorzhin Valery Viktorovich - Vice President for Procurement and Administrative Affairs of MTS

CIOs

Baklykov Andrey - since January, 2010 the Chief information officer of MGTS.
Lebedev Vladimir - since June 2009 Deputy General Director, Technical Director MGTS.
Dmitry Medvedev, head of the united Directorate of Information and Reference Services at MGTS, develops services 09 and 009. “Now Medvedev is working on one of the company's strategic projects,” says a CNews source at MGTS. - There is a consolidation of the resources of the help desk, a single contact center, technical support, a central repair bureau, etc. More than 10 services, which are now located at different Moscow sites, should become unified.” Until December 2009, Dmitry Medvedev served as IT Director at MGTS.

Performance indicators

2018: Net profit growth by 23.5%

According to the financial and operating results for 2018 announced by MGTS, the company's revenue under RAS decreased slightly (minus 0.5%) and amounted to 38.7 billion rubles, which became known on April 4, 2019. At the same time, net profit increased by 23.5% - up to 19.6 billion rubles. Profitability by net profit exceeded 50.7%. The subscriber base for all services increased by a total of 5%, exceeding 5.5 million, which is the third indicator in the Russian fixed-line communications market.

The share of revenues from non-government regulated services, including such as broadband access, digital TV and other services provided by both private and to corporative clients, in the overall structure of income exceeded 61%. Total revenue from non-regulated services amounted to RUB 23.8 billion. In turn, the company's revenues in the consumer market grew by 4%, exceeding 19 billion rubles, while revenues from the provision of digital services grew faster - by 23%, to 8.1 billion rubles.

MGTS demonstrated the highest growth rates in the MVNO market (providing mobile communications according to the virtual model) - revenues from this line of business almost doubled and amounted to 1.437 billion rubles, exceeding revenues from pay TV services. By the end of 2018, the number of MGTS mobile users amounted to more than 480 thousand subscribers, an increase of more than 50%.

At the same time, revenue from broadband Internet services in the mass market, according to the report of MGTS, grew by 12%, to 4.9 billion rubles. MGTS maintained high rates of broadband access in the stagnant market, increasing the number of Internet subscribers by 11% over the year, which significantly exceeds the growth rate of the market itself. Revenues from the provision of digital TV services reached RUB 1.4 billion. (+23%), the subscriber base exceeded 620 thousand customers, having increased by 16.5%.

In the corporate segment, according to the report, the revenue of MGTS remained at the same level and amounted to 8.2 billion rubles. In the broadband access market for B2B clients, revenue increased by 22%, exceeding RUB 1 billion. The number of broadband connections increased by 15.3% over the year

As for the profit from sales of MGTS, it grew by 22.9% - up to 10.1 billion rubles. While the cost of the company decreased by 5.3% to 22.1 billion rubles, and management expenses - by 16% - to 4 billion rubles. Other income of the company amounted to 12.5 billion rubles. (an increase of 17.8%), of which 7.7 billion rubles. received in the form of dividends from subsidiaries.

Alexey Nazarov, Commercial Director of MGTS, commented on the results of the company in 2018 as follows:

2018 was a very eventful year for MGTS both in terms of transformation of various aspects of the company and in terms of optimization organizational structure, changes and improvements in key business processes . All of these changes ultimately helped us end 2018 with financial and operating results that exceeded our original forecasts.

Speaking about the performance growth of the MGTS MVNO project, Alexey Nazarov said:

We plan to continue to grow ahead of the market, especially in digital services. We are fully satisfied with the results of the MVNO project and see its positive impact on the results of the company itself and the MTS Group as a whole. The launch of MVNO led to the creation of products - converged packages with home Internet at speeds up to 1 Gb / s, digital TV and mobile communications, which allow customers to save money, and companies to increase the average ARPU and significantly reduce the churn of users, which is less than 3% of the base of converged users on a yearly basis.

Story

2019: Nikolay Pozhidaev is appointed the financial director of MGTS

2018

Free distribution of routers with support for the Internet of things

In December 2018, it became known about the intentions of MGTS to provide subscribers with routers with support for the Internet of things. The operator will spend 1.4 billion rubles on the purchase of equipment.

Appointments in the sales and service block

Moscow City Telephone Network - a fixed-line operator in Europe, part of the MTS group - on August 14, 2018 announced appointments in the sales and service block: Pyotr Lepekhin was appointed director of the sales department, Ilya Yemelin was appointed director of the customer service department.

To perform complex and interesting tasks to strengthen MGTS' position in the dense and highly competitive market of Moscow and the Moscow region, our team needed bright and courageous managers. Both of our new leaders possess these qualities, and I am sure that thanks to their professional skills we will be able to give MGTS an additional commercial impetus necessary for further development, - Alexey Nazarov, MGTS Sales and Service Director, commented on the appointments.

Appointments: General Director of MGTS - Pavel Kuznetsov, Chairman of the Board of Directors - Kirill Dmitriev

On June 1, 2018, by decision of the Board of Directors of PJSC MGTS, Pavel Kuznetsov was appointed General Director of the Moscow City Telephone Network (part of the MTS Group). The decision on the appointment was made during the meeting of the members of the Board of Directors, which took place on May 31, 2018. In this post, he replaced Andrey Ershov. Read more.

Kirill Dmitriev, MTS Vice President for Sales and Service, has been appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of PJSC MGTS.

2016: MGTS was fined 562.5 thousand rubles for different infrastructure tariffs

For violation of the law on protection of competition, the telecom operator MGTS must pay a fine of 562.5 thousand rubles. This amount was assigned by employees of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) for setting different tariffs for the provision of seats in linear cable communication facilities for companies funded and not funded from the state budget. This is stated on the website of the department's department for Moscow.

As the FAS found out, in some cases the cost of the tariff for budget organizations 40% higher than the cost of a similar tariff for non-budget. And this is despite the fact that the same costs are included in the cost of such services for both parties.

As Oleg Korneev, deputy head of the Moscow OFAS of Russia, noted, "the legislation provides for a ban on the establishment by a person in a dominant position of different prices for the same product."

2015

Purchase of 1.1 million routers

On December 7, 2015, it became known about MGTS' plans to purchase more than 1 million routers for connecting to the Internet via a GPON optical network (gigabit passive optical networks - the standard implies laying fiber optics in each apartment). Read more.

"Computer help" for corporate users

On December 8, 2015, the Moscow City Telephone Network announced the launch of the Computer Assistance service for corporate clients.

According to the company's statement, using the MGTS service, small businesses can receive modern telecom services and optimize administrative and IT costs.

The list of "Computer Assistance" services includes diagnostics, prevention and repair of office equipment and IT equipment, installation and configuration software(operating systems, antivirus and more). The number of serviced equipment includes computers, printers and multifunctional and network devices (routers, plotters, Wi-Fi access points) and cable network infrastructure. The service is provided by MGTS employees.

Corporate clients of the company can use the service as needed or enter into an agreement for regular IT support. Depending on the amount of equipment being serviced, the cost of ongoing service support ranges from 1 thousand rubles. up to 4 thousand rubles per month. The contract includes from one to three preventive visits, during which MGTS specialists will perform network diagnostics (checking the network infrastructure and correct equipment connection), update anti-virus databases and configure the connection of computers newly installed at the subscriber.

The service is provided to the current broadband access clients of the company. The service is aimed at small and medium-sized businesses in different areas activities with the number of operated IT equipment up to 20 units.

"The use of integrated telecommunications solutions enables entrepreneurs and managers of small businesses to optimize their business processes, receiving services from a single supplier at competitive prices. increase the market share in the segment of small and medium-sized businesses up to 25% by 2016,” said Dmitry Kulakovsky, Director for Marketing and Product Development of MGTS OJSC.

2012

Comstar-OTS owns a 29% stake in MGTS

As of December 20, 2012, Comstar - United Telesystems owned a 29% stake in the Moscow City Telephone Network company.

Switching to ten-digit numbers

2012 - start of industrial commissioning PON technologies. Switching to ten-digit numbers

Number of Internet users - 469 thousand customers

The number of MGTS Internet users increased by 26 percent to 469 thousand customers in the second quarter of 2012 compared to 373.5 thousand customers in the second quarter of 2011. The growth in the number of MGTS Internet users is due to the company's marketing policy aimed at increasing the speed of Internet access and reducing the cost of the service while maintaining a high quality of service. The share of new subscribers connecting to tariffs with a data transfer rate of 6 Mbps and above increased to 75 percent by the end of June 2012 compared to 45 percent in the second half of 2011. In addition, about 3,000 active MGTS subscribers are switching to higher-speed tariff plans every month.

“MGTS continues to improve the quality and availability of the Internet service from MGTS for subscribers. The company offers a democratic line of tariffs with Internet access speeds up to 20 Mbps using ADSL technology and up to 200 Mbps using GPON technologies By affordable prices to meet the demand of different categories of users. With the development of the GPON fiber-optic network, MGTS will be able to offer more Moscow residents maximum speeds access to the Internet at competitive prices, as well as to expand the number of services that a subscriber can receive via one optical cable per apartment. At the same time, the use of a wide range of services on one optical channel, such as high-definition television, digital telephony, telemetry and a number of others interactive services, will not affect the quality of Internet access,” said Roman Plyachenko, Marketing and Business Development Director at MGTS.

In December 2012, the number of Internet users from MGTS increased by 23% compared to December 2011 and exceeded 510 thousand subscribers. At the end of the year, 200,000 subscribers were connected using GPON optical technology. The total number of MGTS fixed telephony subscribers remained stable and at the end of 2012 amounted to 4.4 million numbers.

Construction of a new optical network

2012 marked the 10th anniversary of the launch of the MGTS broadband data transmission network. Connection over a copper pair made it possible to provide access to global network with a phone that works at the same time. The first subscribers of the network were corporate segment customers and private premium users. In 2005, the provision of home Internet for MGTS subscribers began.

Until the end of 2012, MGTS will provide technical connectivity to the optical network for 1.7 million households in Moscow, in 2013 - for 3.4 million households, and in 2014 the network's installed capacity will be 4.4 million ports. Connection of subscribers to the optical network will be carried out in stages until 2015, and in 2016-2017 it is planned to dismantle the old infrastructure - copper cables.

The government agreed to give up MGTS shares in exchange for Sky Link shares, on the condition that Sistema paid the difference at a price not lower than the market price, determined on the basis of an independent appraiser's report.

Comstar-UTS (controlled by AFK Sistema) returns to the state a 25% stake plus one share in OAO Svyazinvest. In return for this, Comstar's debt to Sberbank in the amount of 26 billion rubles. takes over Vnesheconombank (VEB). In addition, Svyazinvest is giving Comstar a 23.3% stake in MGTS. To compensate Svyazinvest for the difference between the cost MGTS package, transferred to Comstar, and the value of the stake in Svyazinvest, plus the amount of debt "forgivable" to Comstar, AFK Sistema transfers 100% to Svyazinvest's structures mobile operator CJSC "Sky Link"

1882-2007

Moscow City Telephone Network stood at the origins of the creation of the telecommunications infrastructure of Moscow from the appearance of the first telephone exchange for 800 numbers, when the monthly fee per year was several times more expensive than a beautiful fur coat. The company, together with the Muscovites, survived the hardships of the revolution, the siege during the Great patriotic war, permanently remaining on guard of the communications of the capital. MGTS was the city's technology partner both in the post-war period, when Moscow was growing rapidly, connecting several hundred thousand subscribers a year, and during major international events. In new economic conditions In the 1990s, MGTS managed to reorganize itself and prepare for the Internet technology boom.

1882 - On July 13, the opening of the first manual telephone exchange of the Gileland system of the Bell company took place on Kuznetsky Most, 6 (the house of the merchant Popov).
The most modern in Europe. 1902 - The laying of the building of the Central Bank of the RTS took place in Milyutinsky Lane. The construction of the main sewer has begun.
First automatic. 1930 - The first in Moscow Zamoskvoretskaya automatic telephone exchange B1 (8 thousand numbers), Baumanskaya automatic telephone exchange E1 (7 thousand numbers) were put into operation.
First decade. 1948 - Construction of new ten-step automatic telephone exchanges B3, B8 and B9 began.
First seven digits. 1968 - The entire network was transferred to a single seven-digit numbering. Switching of 625 thousand numbers occurred simultaneously.
First computing. 1978 - A computer-based computer center was put into operation.
First broadband. 2002 - Completion of construction of a broadband data transmission network common use(SPD OP).
Time - combined - subscriber. 2007 - Changed the procedure for providing services, introduced three tariff plans

PJSC Moscow City Telephone Network (MGTS, part of the MTS group) announced the change of the CEO. Since May 31, the company has been headed by ex-president JSC Sitronics (system integrator, part of AFK Sistema) Pavel Kuznetsov.

As CEO of MGTS, Pavel Kuznetsov replaced Andrey Ershov who led the company for over five years. The press service of MGTS notes that Andrey Ershov left of his own free will and will deal with project activities outside the company. It should be noted that Andrey Ershov has headed MGTS since October 2012.

The decision to change the CEO was made by the Board of Directors of MGTS on May 31, 2018.

Alexey Kornya, President of Mobile TeleSystems PJSC:

“Pavel has experience in developing and selling system integration services, the Internet of things and other technological products based on telecommunications services. These competencies are very important at the moment for the long-term development of the company and will contribute to the implementation of MGTS plans for further development».

According to experts, with the appointment of Pavel Kuznetsov to the position of General Director of MGTS, one should expect greater consistency in the strategy of the various assets of AFK Sistema. The experience of the new leader is important, but it is unlikely that MGTS will become a decisive competitive advantage in comparison with the integration market players. Rather, experience as the head of various companies of the AFK Sistema holding is more important, which will give experience in implementing the overall strategy of the holding.

Sitronics JSC, which was previously headed by Pavel Kuznetsov, is engaged in the design, development and implementation of products and solutions for government customers, operators cellular communication, enterprises and holdings. Denis Lobanov, who previously held the post of Deputy General Director for Interaction with the Public Sector of MGTS, became the President of Sitronics.

Pavel Kuznetsov born in 1977. Graduated from Penza State University them. V.G. Belinsky. Labor activity started in 1996, worked in various companies On the market wholesale trade oil products. From 2011 to 2014, he held a number of senior positions in the administration of the Penza region. In 2014, he moved to AFK Sistema to the position of Project Director. From 2015 to 2016 he was the President of JSC Intellect-Telecom. From March 2016 to May 2018, he was President of JSC Sitronics (a system integrator that is part of AFK Sistema). On June 1, 2018, he became the General Director of PJSC Moscow City Telephone Network (MGTS, part of the MTS group).

Andrey Ershov was born in 1974. In 1997 he graduated with honors from the Samara State Aerospace University. In 2000, he graduated from the Moscow State University of Economics, Statistics and Informatics with a degree in Finance and Credit. In 2004, he joined MTS as the head of the marketing department for the Volga-South-East macroregion. Worked as head of marketing department retail market MTS Corporate Center and director of the commercial department of MTS Russia, then director of the Ural macro-region of MTS. In August 2012, he was appointed First Deputy General Director for Business Development at MGTS. From October 2012 to June 2018, he was CEO of MGTS.

Pavel Kuznetsov became the CEO of PJSC Moscow City Telephone Network (MGTS, part of the MTS group). Prior to that, he served as president of JSC Sitronics (a system integrator that is part of AFK Sistema). As CEO of MGTS, Pavel Kuznetsov replaced Andrey Ershov, who headed the company for more than five years. Andrey Ershov left of his own free will and will be engaged in project activities outside of MGTS.

Pavel Kuznetsov (pictured) has been appointed General Director of MGTS. The board of directors of the company accepted this decision on May 31, 2018. Pavel Kuznetsov was earlier the president of the Sitronics system integrator (designs, develops and implements products and solutions for the state customers, mobile operators, enterprises and holdings). Denis Lobanov, who previously held the post of deputy general director for interaction with the public sector at MGTS, became the president of Sitronics, Anastasia Guseva, director of the marketing department of Sitronics, told a ComNews correspondent.

"Pavel has experience in the development and sales of system integration services, the Internet of things and other technological products based on telecommunications services. These competencies are very important for the long-term development of the company and will contribute to the implementation of MGTS' plans for further development," the President of MTS commented on the new appointment. Alex Kornia.

Pavel Kuznetsov replaced Andrey Ershov, who headed MGTS since October 2012. As the ComNews correspondent was told in the press service of MGTS, Andrey Ershov left of his own free will and will be engaged in project activities outside MGTS.

Kirill Dmitriev, MTS Vice President for Sales and Service, became Chairman of the Board of Directors of MGTS.

Finam analyst Leonid Delitsyn believes that with the new appointment, one should expect greater consistency in the strategy of the various assets of AFK Sistema. "The experience of a new leader is important, but it is unlikely that in itself it will become a decisive competitive advantage of MGTS in comparison with the players in the integration market. Rather, the experience as the head of various companies of the AFK Sistema holding is more important - this gives experience in implementing the overall strategy of the holding - which can by no means not seem the best to individual companies," he said.

ComNews dossier

Pavel Kuznetsov was born in 1977. Graduated from the Penza State University. V.G. Belinsky. He began his career in 1996, worked in various companies in the wholesale market of petroleum products. From 2011 to 2014, he held a number of senior positions in the administration of the Penza region. In 2014, he moved to AFK Sistema to the position of Project Director. From 2015 to 2016 he was the President of JSC "Intellect-Telecom". From March 2016 to May 2018, he was President of JSC Sitronics (a system integrator that is part of AFK Sistema). On June 1, 2018, he became the CEO of PJSC Moscow City Telephone Network (MGTS, part of the MTS group).

Andrey Ershov was born in 1974. In 1997 he graduated with honors from the Samara State Aerospace University. In 2000, he graduated from the Moscow State University of Economics, Statistics and Informatics with a degree in Finance and Credit. In 2004, he joined MTS as head of the marketing department for the Volga Region - South-East macroregion. He worked as the head of the marketing department of the retail market of the MTS corporate center and the director of the commercial department of MTS Russia, then - the director of the Ural macroregion of MTS. In August 2012, he was appointed First Deputy General Director for Business Development at MGTS. From October 2012 to June 2018, he was CEO of MGTS.

The Moscow City Telephone Network (MGTS) is switching to a new technology, replacing copper wires with fiber optics. What is needed for this, in addition to investments of $ 2 billion, in an interview with Kommersant, he told CEO MGTS Andrey Ershov.

- You have been heading MGTS for nine months now, have you had to change the company's strategy?

The strategy prior to my arrival was directed primarily at technological restructuring. Now we have fully mastered the new technology, learned how to build GPON (Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Network, Gigabit Passive Optical Network.- "b") and got the opportunity to work out in detail the commercial strategy for all segments. The fundamental difference between GPON and other optical technologies is that the channel is laid not to the building, but directly to the subscriber's apartment or office, which eliminates interruptions in the Internet during peak hours. The speed will always be consistently high. Our goal now is to create a single digital, I would even say, intellectual platform of Moscow, and provide innovative services based on this platform that are in demand for residents of the capital, the state, and telecom operators.

- How many subscribers are connected to GPON?

We have a high rate of connections, and now we serve more than 400 thousand subscribers. The technical possibility of connection is already provided for 1.5 million apartments. In total, we have to connect 3.6 million apartments - this is about 40 thousand houses in Moscow.

- How many of them use Internet access and pay TV services?

About 35% of these subscribers - Double play (telephony and Internet access. - "b"). So far, there are not so many TV subscribers on GPON, but the market potential is huge. In the near future, we will switch to a single hybrid digital television platform MTS, which can technologically combine broadcasting on three screens - TVs, mobile devices and computers. This will allow us to offer our customers a number of new services, a single bill for all telecommunications services, and much more.

- All subscribers must switch to GPON?

We do not oblige subscribers to do this, but offer to switch, clearly demonstrating the benefits new technology. And I am glad that the majority of subscribers are interested in switching to GPON. I am pleased to see the difference between the Moscow market and the Urals market, which I am familiar with from my experience as the head of MTS in the Urals Federal District. Internet penetration in Moscow is higher, according to various estimates, about 70-80%. And subscribers are more receptive to new technologies.

Another important aspect is that we offer a trial period when the subscriber can use the Internet for free. At the end of this period, he has the right to choose - either switch to a commercial tariff, or use a demo channel that allows you to use a number of Internet resources for free. In particular, as part of our interaction with the Moscow government, we provide free access to federal and Moscow level public service portals: all sites in the mos.ru domain, gosuslugi.ru, petrovka38.ru, mos-gorsud.ru, icmos.ru, mosproc.ru , gibddmoscow.ru.

- What other sites are we talking about?

These are resources to manage subscriber account pay for services. In particular, portals and self-service services of MGTS, MTS, MTS Bank, online payment services.

- How many subscribers from those houses that have already connected via GPON refused to install a modem in their apartment?

About 10-15% of subscribers.

- Do you suffer losses because of those who refuse?

No. On the contrary, we save money that would have been spent on switching them, because new customers do not pay for an optical modem, for work, everything is done at the expense of MGTS. But subscribers themselves, refusing to change technology, lose the opportunity to use a large number of really convenient and high-quality services that already exist and will continue to appear.

- What market share of broadband Internet access do you want to get?

I think it's quite fair that we can occupy about 50% of the market.

Now, according to various estimates, the share of MGTS in the broadband access market in the capital is approximately 30%. How do you expect to increase your share? Just would be the purchase of Akado Group of Companies, which has about 20% of the market. Moreover, MTS is conducting such negotiations.

The question about Akado is within the competence of our main shareholder, it should be addressed to MTS. MGTS plans to increase its market share by competitive advantage provided by GPON technology.

Recently, in an interview with Kommersant, Akado President Viktor Koresh said that there is a very large flow of broadband subscribers between operators in the Moscow market. Do you agree with this and how do you intend to deal with the churn rate?

The MGTS broadband user base is growing rapidly, and now our priority is high level customer service. We have radically rebuilt these processes, automated all stages of technical support, and introduced strict control systems. For example, if a user has a question that cannot be solved remotely and requires the departure of our specialist, we must ensure that he arrives at the client at the specified time with an accuracy of up to a minute, and in ten minutes the employee technical support must eliminate possible faults. And after that, the client will have the opportunity to give feedback about the quality of his work.

How much of the company's revenue comes from Additional services- Internet, TV and others?

About 38%, the share is growing rapidly, the fastest growing segments are data transmission segments for B2G (services for government agencies) and the mass market. The B2G segment has a high potential - on the basis of the GPON digital network, by and large, an intelligent city management system can operate. We will be able to connect an almost unlimited speed Internet channel anywhere in Moscow. This will give us the opportunity, for example, to install high-resolution cameras, fill them with "intelligence", which will allow us to control the life processes of the metropolis. And at the household level, such systems can be extremely useful for monitoring snow removal, garbage disposal, traffic safety, and the state of housing and communal services. In addition to cameras, sensors for gas pollution, energy management - anything can be installed.

We must pay tribute to the team of Sergei Sobyanin, who managed to organize an effective video surveillance system in Moscow. Colleagues from the department information technologies found the only correct formula that allows to implement such large-scale projects, the so-called service model. We build infrastructure at our own expense and provide a ready-made service, not access to technology. As a result, we ourselves are interested in making the infrastructure as quickly and efficiently as possible.

- Will you participate in any other projects, besides the creation of video surveillance systems, of the city?

We also provide Internet access services and content filtering in schools, kindergartens, and deploy free Wi-Fi zones in the city. And we plan to participate in other projects of the Moscow government.

- You planned to complete the network upgrade by 2015. Is the forecast saved?

Yes. We do everything to be in time. Now our priority is construction in the Central Administrative District of Moscow. Historically, there is practically no high-quality telecommunications infrastructure. There are MGTS copper lines, but there are, in fact, no full-fledged "optical" Internet operators in the city center.

- Last year, MGTS announced that the modernization costs would amount to $2 billion? Is this the final amount?

It is difficult to predict the exact figure, given the various additional costs that we receive during the implementation phase. For example, in some areas we have to completely rebuild the sewers. But significant additional investments will not be required, we are working within the framework of previously approved financial plans.

At the end of last year, we were told that MGTS called its subscribers, offering to connect long-distance communication services from MTS instead of Rostelecom. Are there any difficulties in dealing with this company?

MGTS does not provide long-distance services, and we do not conduct such calls.

How many MGTS subscribers use the hot-choice service (choice of long-distance and international communications on every call)

About 30% of subscribers enjoy the right of free choice.

- How many of your subscribers have chosen Rostelecom as their default long-distance operator?

The share of Rostelecom is significant, but I cannot say that it dominates this market.

IN new edition of the Law "On Communications" rules of non-discriminatory access may appear. Are you, as one of the main owners of sewerage in Moscow, against their introduction?

We are now actually working according to these rules. We have formed tariffs that are uniform for all operators, we are ready to place any operator in the sewerage system if there is a technical possibility. By implementing the GPON project, we make our infrastructure even more accessible to third-party operators and are interested in cooperation ourselves. For example, our new optical channels can use mobile operators which now more than ever need modern transport networks to provide quality mobile Internet in Moscow. We are already cooperating with MTS in this area, connecting via GPON channels base stations LTE.

- Will the transition to GPON free up space in the sewer?

Quite right. Because optical cable takes up much less space. In addition, I hope that the introduction of non-discriminatory access rules will help regulate the market. If we compare the tariffs for placement in our sewer with the tariffs for similar services of other market participants, then their prices are many times higher. The introduction of clear pricing, among other things, will help us, because we are actively developing and moving to new territories - in particular, to New Moscow. So far, we do not have a developed telecommunications structure in that part of the city, and we will be forced to turn to other operators.

- What investments are required for New Moscow?

This will depend on the town planning plans of the mayor's office. So far, we do not have a clear understanding of either the location or the number of houses in that area. But we know that the Moscow government has serious intentions to develop new areas. In any case, we will strive to connect all new buildings in New Moscow. It is planned that about 2 million people will live in this territory and they will need telecommunications services.

- How do they usually choose an operator for a new building, is it some kind of tender?

This is a commercial relationship with developers. Any developer has an obligation to provide two basic communication services - telephone and TV when putting apartments into operation. MGTS is ready to provide both of these services, as well as to offer high-quality Internet.

The logic that the government has built into universal services is of lesser priority for Moscow than it is for remote corners of Russia. In Moscow, the penetration of mobile communications is now very high and voice services in payphones are fading into the background. But at the same time, there is a huge need for modern Internet services - for navigation around the city, zones free wifi, access to public services and other information resources.

- How much will it cost you to replace payphones? When do you plan to do it?

While we are preparing a business case. Costs will depend on the model, functionality, number of devices. We already have the first "pilot" model with Wi-Fi module, a camera for instant shooting and uploading photos to the public services portal, a QR and barcode reader, a printer, a device for making payments, including contactless ones using NFC technology, and much more. There are many examples of successful information business. Basically, terminals are installed in places of maximum location of people - at railway stations, airports, cinemas. This is a very interesting business.

In the new edition of the law "On Communications" the concept of natural monopoly may disappear, which means that your tariffs will no longer be regulated. How will it affect the company and subscribers?

You know that now there are three mandatory tariff plans. If regulation becomes a thing of the past, this will give us the opportunity to bring new offers to the market, flexibly package mobile and fixed telephony services, and the Internet. And this is beneficial for both subscribers and the company.