Mobile Content Russia

Opera Software today announced that MTS, the largest cellular network operator in Russia and CIS, will now provide a co-branded version of the Opera Mini browser for its subscribers, who will be able to download it on their mobile phones at mini.opera.com. Subscribers of MTS will get access to a customized Opera Mini start page when they download the browser on their mobile phones.

The start page will have default bookmarks which give MTS subscribers quick and easy access to music, videos and games as well as giving users the opportunity to purchase content directly from the browser.

We'd like to share the video of Antti Viitanen presentation at VI Mobile VAS Conference "What’s next for mobile data?".

Antti Viitanen is director of Digia company. Antti Viitanen is responsible for Digia's international products. Before joining Digia, Antti has worked for 10 years in mobile operator & mobile service industries and 10 years in media industry. He worked for AlmaMedia, Yahoo! Mobile, TeliaSonera and RealNetworks occupying various management positions.


NB: Don't forget to push HD button.

VimpelCom (which operates under the Beeline trademark) has announced test launch of mobile DVB-H TV service in Moscow city, capital of Russia.

Mobile TV service Beeline provides its users with the ability to watch common TV channels on mobile. Users can watch eleven channels. While service operates in beta mode, it is available free of charge.

Russian WiMAX provider Yota has begun deploying its network in Nicaragua. The broadband Internet access penetration in Nicaragua is less than 1% which is one of the worst figures throughout the Latin American region. The extreme monopolization and weak competition in the market lead to poor service quality and high tariffs and eventually hinder the development of the communications market in the country. Considering the obvious interdependence between the penetration of communications services and the economic development of the country, the government of Nicaragua has ruled to bring the new player to the market: the player with solid experience in the development of the new generation communication networks.

MTS, the largest cellular network operator in Russia and CIS, has announced the launch of BlackBerry service, end-to-end solution for safe remote access to corporate email on BlackBerry smartphones for companies which operates outside Moscow and Moscow region. When subscribing to the service, company gets BlackBerry smartphones. MTS sets up company's servers and mail client connection. Monthly payment for unlimited BlackBerry service is 590 rubles (about 20 dollars).

First time BlackBerry email service was introduced in Ukraine in October, 2007, when MTS rolled out BlackBerry enterprise service. In June 2008, MTS launched BlackBerry email service for enterprise users in Russia. Today the service is used by 500 large companies in Russia.

MTS, the largest cellular network operator in Russia and CIS, has announced the full-scale roll out of UMTS/HSPA (3G) network in all regions of Armenia, one of the CIS countries. Today the third generation network is operating in 50 cities of the country.

First VivaCell-MTS 3G networks were launched in April 2009 in three major Armenian cities – Yerevan, Gyumri, and Vanadzor. The carrier is building a combined 2G/3.5G network in Armenia, using the current platforms as base stations without holdup or significant reconfiguration of GSM network.

MegaFon Caucasian branch has announced the launch of 3G network in Chechnya Republic. The carrier invested about 500 million rubles (17 million dollars) in building the network. Now 116 3G base stations operate in the republic, - altogether they provide high quality radio coverage on large scale. New 3G services will be available for all subscribers in 3G coverage area with UMTS handsets or special USB-modem.

MTS, the largest cellular network operator in Russia and CIS, has announced that MTS Uzbekistan, 100% subsidiary of JSC Mobile TeleSystems, received authorization from Uzbekistan Communication Agency for using the existing company's frequency range in building LTE network in Uzbekistan.

MVNO «PROSTO dlya obscheniya» («Simply for communication») has announced that it has signed up more than 350,000 subscribers. Promotion campaign and pricing down of data plans have significantly improved the sales figures, - the company hopes to sign up half a million subscribers by the end of this year. In august the number of MVNO subscribers reached 260,000 users.

Colibria, in partnership with Acision, the world's leading messaging company, today announced that it has enabled Russia's largest operator, MTS, , to interconnect its 'Chat' Mobile Instant Messenger (MIM) service with MegaFon and VimpelCom (which operates under the Beeline trademark). This allows subscribers of the three operators to seamlessly exchange messages across their respective services. The new service, which will be jointly branded as 'Chat' across all three networks, builds on year-on-year growth in messaging for MTS since 2008. This trend is expected to continue by the expansion of messaging access across Russian subscriber communities.