Alexander Kozhanov is CEO of Comincom Combellga Group. He spoke to Telecoms Russia about the introduction of new services, including Fixed-Mobile Convergence, which was developed with the help of a major shareholder, Telenor.

Telecoms Russia: In March 2001, Combellga, together with VimpelCom, launched FMC (Fixed-Mobile Convergence) service. Tell us about it.

Alexander Kozhanov: In early 2001, Combellga, working with VimpelCom, emerged as the first Russian telecom to offer FMC service, which combines advantages of both terrestrial and mobile telephone systems. The service was developed with the help of our major shareholder and strategic partner, Norway-based Telenor. There are more than 70,000 FMC users in Norway, and Telenor has much experience in providing this service.

In Russia, FMC is interesting primarily for large corporations with many employees. They have to maintain permanent connections with their colleagues and clients and are interested in reducing mobile phone bills. The Moscow office of one of the world's leading audit and consulting companies, KPMG, became our first client for this service.

At this moment, Combellga is negotiating contracts with a large number of potential users, focusing on companies that run their own distribution networks and need a permanent nexus with their sales agents.

We believe that the appearance of FMC marks the beginning of cooperation between the terrestrial and mobile communications providers with the aim of expanding the scope of services and raising their quality to higher levels.

TR: What other services do you plan to launch in the near future?

AK: This year, Combellga launched a number of new services, the most interesting among them, apart from FMC, being a broad-band Internet access using ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) technology. It helped our company to dramatically consolidate its positions on the market as a leading Internet operator.

TR: But MTU-Intel has declared itself Russia's No. 1 Internet operator…

AK: Quite a few companies are Internet providers, but not all of them possess appropriate resources and technologies. Combellga does, and it is a one-stop teleshop as it boasts a full spectrum of service, including dial-up, ADSL, dedicated line, radiochannelling and a number of optional services, such as co-location, VPN corporate networks, etc.

As for ADSL, it's a popular service in Western Europe as it allows Internet connection via existing telephone lines at a speed equal to that of a dedicated line. As things stand today, ADSL is the best choice of Internet connection in terms of the price/quality tradeoff. Exactly as was expected, ADSL has turned out to be our company's most successful project this year.

The introduction of FMC and ADSL has helped Combellga attract a large number of new clients, but we are not going to stop at that. We are actively developing new solutions, and our major hopes lie with the idea of organizing corporate multi-service networks that will allow us to integrate voice and data transfer. Our first steps in this direction have confirmed the existence of strong interest in such telecom solutions from corporate users.

TR: How would you assess prospects for future investments in the sector?

AK: I think quite a lot has been done during the recent years in order to improve investment climate in the country. First of all, I am talking about the political and social stabilization in the country and significant economic reforms (reduction of the tax burden, changes in the customs law).

At the same time, it cannot be said that everything possible has been done. An important direction of reforms, particularly in relation to the telecoms sector, should be measures to ensure equal conditions for all operators and effective protection of property rights. The government of the Russian Federation declared these objectives in its Program of Russia's Social and Economic Development Toward the Year 2004. Among other goals, the program calls for ensuring genuine equality of all economic entities.