Russian Internet-related services and products

Megafon will receive $ 247.5 million for shares of Mail.ru Group within the framework of creation of a joint venture with partners

Valery Sharifulin / TASS
MOSCOW, May 8. / TASS /. Operator Megafon creates a joint venture for the development of digital services and projects in the digital economy with Gazprombank, Rostekh and its controlling shareholder USM Holdings Alisher Usmanov.

The operator said that it transfers to the joint venture 11.5 million shares of Mail.ru Group class A worth $ 450 million. The package represents 5.23% of the economic stake in the company, or 58.87% of the vote. Now Megafon owns 15.2% of the economic share of Mail.ru Group, or 63.8% of voting shares.

In return, Megafon will receive $ 247.5 million before taxes - these funds will help reduce the operator's debt burden. As of the end of 2017, MegaFon's net debt in the telecom segment was 234.5 billion rubles.

The price of the transaction assumes a premium to the market price of Mail.ru Group securities as of May 4, 2018 at a rate of 29% - these terms are more favorable than in the framework of the deal to purchase a stake in Mail.ru Group in February 2017 by Megafon.

How and when will it be
The joint venture will be established on the basis of MF Technology JSC (ITF). Now this structure belongs to the 100% subsidiary of Megafon Lefbord Investment Limited.

"As part of the deal, Gazprombank will acquire a 35% stake in Leftbord from the ITF, USM - 9%, and Rostek - 11%." As a result of the transaction, Lefbord still has a 45% stake in the deal, which was valued at $ 450 million. " - said in the statement of the operator.

After the deal is closed, MegaFon owns 21.94 million common shares, which account for 10% of Mail.ru Group's economic share. "At present, Megafon does not plan to sell this stake," the operator said.

Executive director of "Megafon" Gevorg Vermishyan told TASS that the company plans to close the deal in May. "We received a decision of the board of directors of Megafon yesterday, and in May we plan to close the deal," he said.

The profit of 12 billion rubles
According to Vermishyan, "Megafon" estimates the cash profit from investments in Mail.ru Group of 12 billion rubles. "The total package of 58.87% of the voting shares of Mail.ru Group is estimated at $ 450 million. For us, this corresponds to a cash investment profit of about 12 billion rubles," he said.

The valuation of the $ 450mn package corresponds to approximately $ 39 per share, while Megafon bought Mail.ru Group shares at $ 22 per share, Vermishyan explained. "The difference between the price of today's valuation and the price of our entry - this is the money profit," he added. For 63.8% of the voting shares of Mail.ru Group, Megafon paid $ 740 million.

USM Holdings manages the assets of entrepreneur Alisher Usmanov. At the moment, the group is the main shareholder of Megafon and controls 56.32% of the operator's shares. Shares Mail.ru Group last year, "Megafon" bought from the structures of Usmanov.

Big plans
The joint venture will unite the expertise of the leaders of telecommunications, IT business, financial services and high-tech industries - to enter new markets and create industrial solutions, the report said.

Together with partners, Megafon plans to implement a number of projects, among them the creation of software products aimed at digitizing the work of large companies and developing solutions based on the blockbuster.

Rostekh, who is one of the key participants in the direction "Formation of research competencies and technological reserves" of the program "Digital Economy", will use its experience in the field of development and implementation of digital technologies, Tass learned from the press service of the state corporation.

"The most important project, already underway, is the creation of a digital financial platform on the basis of which the parties will develop high-tech services: payment, credit and other digital products." For this purpose, Megafon, Mail.ru Group, USM and Gazprombank plan to create a company Digital JV (DJV), "the report said.

The plans are also to form a joint investment fund for investments in promising technology companies.

Since the acquisition of the stake in the Mail.ru Group in February 2017, the operator has sought to extract synergies from this partnership, said the executive director of Megafon. "We did something very well, something did not work out - for example, we decided to close a project like VK Mobile, but now we see that synergies at the interface of industries in a broader range of participants can bring significantly more serious benefits and growth of shareholder value, "Vermishyan said.

"Megafon" "seeks to play a leading role in the digital economy of Russia," Megafon reported referring to the company's CEO Sergei Soldatenkov. "Today, the efforts of the leaders of telecommunication, high-tech and financial markets are united all over the world to create new digital products and services, in this connection we join forces with the leading Russian players of these markets to build a digital bank and more active work in the corporate segment," he said. he.

Soldatenkov believes that the partnership will allow Megafon to participate in more projects and ensure the operator's exit into the new growing digital economy markets.

The goal of the partners is to create a unique platform that will not only generate new products, but an entire ecosystem based on fundamentally new digital financial instruments, USM reported referring to the head of USM Management, Ivan Streshinsky. The parties have experience of successful cooperation and a common view on the future of the digital industry, he said.

Google may be blocked in Russia & country is ready to change laws to do it – watchdog

Russian legislation may be amended to allow harsher sanctions against foreign IT-companies, including blocking Google, that keep violating the country’s laws, Russia’s telecom watchdog Roskomnadzor warned.

Earlier this week, Google was fined 500,000 rubles ($7,500) for refusing to connect its search engine to the federal database of banned websites. The penalty almost feels like a mockery, considering that Alphabet holding company, which Google is part of, earned almost $110 billion last year.

“If fines won’t have any effect on the behavior of the foreign company, there’s a possibility that the legislation will be changed, which will allow blocking Goggle in Russia,” Vadim Subbotin, the deputy head of Roskomnadzor, said.

“Blocking will become the toughest possible measure,” but it would be justified, considering the content of the banned websites Google allows its users to browse freely, he said.

We’re talking about child pornography, suicides, drugs, gambling, alcohol sales. We’re talking about extremism and terrorism.
A new law was introduced in Russia this October that obliges all operators of search engines to exclude terrorist, extremist and other illegal websites from their search results.

A new law was introduced in Russia this October that obliges all operators of search engines to exclude terrorist, extremist and other illegal websites from their search results.To do so, they should link up with a database of around 120,000 banned URLs, compiled by the Russian authorities.

To do so, they should link up with a database of around 120,000 banned URLs, compiled by the Russian authorities.

However, Google refuses to filter the illegal content, despite Roskomnadzor holding several meetings with the representatives of the US tech giant and explaining the legalities to them.

In September, the watchdog also threated to block Facebook in Russia as the company violated the bans on storing of Russian citizens’ personal data on servers located outside the country.


https://www.rt.com/russia/446278-google-blocking-russia-illegal-websites/

Russia’s own internet? Legislators plan to protect the country's web from foreign interference

Russian lawmakers have introduced legislation designed to reduce the country's internet resources’ dependence on foreign infrastructure. The bill also envisions emergency measures in case the nation gets cut off the worldwide web.

The legislation, submitted to the State Duma on Tuesday, has been drafted in the wake of the “aggressive nature of US cyber security strategy adopted in September 2018.” The strategy outlines Washington’s desire to maintain dominance in defining, shaping and policing cyberspace, as well as to achieve “peace through strength,” countering “malicious actors” like Russia and China.

The main goal of Moscow, according to the proposed legislation, is to significantly decrease dependence of the Russian internet sector on foreign infrastructure. The document envisions setting up national groundwork to keep Russia’s internet functional, even if servers abroad become unavailable for any reason. This includes the creation of an entirely new system of national domain names, one of the legislation’s sponsors, Duma deputy Andrey Lugovoy, explained.

“We're not creating our own internet. We're just setting up a backup infrastructure. We’re duplicating it locally, so that our citizens would have access to the internet in case of any emergency,” Lugovoy told RIA Novosti.

As well as this, Russian cyberspace may also come under the centralized governance of the country’s media watchdog Roscomnadzor, well-known for its activities related to blocking rogue actors that feature outlawed content. The measure is expected to be triggered only in case of “the emergence of a threat to the integrity, stability and safety of the internet functioning in Russia,” according to the proposed legislation.

To actually make the “centralized governance” work, the legislation proposes to oblige internet providers to set up equipment that can detect the source of any internet traffic.

The bill has been already welcomed by Russia’s Ministry of Сommunications. Given the scope of the idea, however, it’s quite hard to predict when it would become effective, if the legislation is adopted.

“The task is global,” deputy Minister of communications Oleg Ivanov said. “It definitely cannot be done within a year, it would take several. We need to look into it in detail, when such a system is engineered. Then we can talk about a realistic timeframe.”

US investment fund triples stake in Russia’s internet giant Yandex

The Oppenheimer family of investment funds has increased its stake in Russian tech corporation Yandex, according to the latest filing submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company that identifies itself as one of the world’s most reputable investment firms reportedly boosted its stake from 1.8 percent to 6.41 percent, which represents about 18.365 million shares, as of December 31, 2018.
Yandex closed trading in the US at $29.55 per share on Monday so the entire OppenheimerFunds stake in the Russian company is currently worth $542.7 million.

In 2015, the New York-based investment company entirely eliminated its stake in Yandex. Prior to that OppenheimerFunds had been the largest portfolio investors in the Russian corporation holding 36.4 million class A shares (11.48 percent of equity, 4.2 percent of votes) in Yandex.

The fund resumed investment in the Russian firm in the fourth quarter of 2017, having bought 5.1 million shares.

Based in Moscow, Yandex operates an Internet website and a search engine in Russia. The company offers news, shopping information, blogging, photography, music and video services. It also provides online taxi and food delivery services. The company reportedly gets most of its revenues from online advertising.

In August, Yandex announced the test launch of a new autonomous ride-hailing service in the special economic zone of Innopolis. In December, the internet giant released its first smartphone, called Yandex.Phone, and launched its own home assistant smart speaker.

https://www.rt.com/business/448877-us-fund-triples-yandex-share/

Nibiru wrote:5g technology is expected to be the dominant player in internet services worldwide in the next couple of years, my question is, does Russia have the manufacturing/ know how base to be able to build their own 5g hardware and infrastructure without relying on Huawei or western tech firms? Im thinking of Rostec as a Russian counterpart of Huawei or Cisco that could potentially be the contractor to build Russia’s 5g systems

GarryB wrote:Actually I really wonder why the Russians don't fund alternatives to Facebook and Twitter and the like and promise not to censor or block any pages of memberships of any people who are not listed as terrorists or terrorist states in Russia...

I mean they are not complex websites... they became popular because of word of mouth... ie I am on facebook are you? (I would add I am not on facebook or twitter or any of that shit... I am not even signed up to Youtube...).

Certainly a Russian Youtube equivalent that is not anti gun or anti anything would be nice... I already use Yandex over Google for search and translations...

Rostec Is Ready to Expand International Cooperation in 5G

Moscow, Russia: The enterprises of Rostec State Corporation have started creating Russian equipment for fifth generation mobile communications. The equipment will comply with international 3GPP standards, and will also be compatible with the devices of other vendors.

Currently, Rostec has competitive 4G LTE solutions, the Corporation also develops and manufactures modern equipment for mobile operators and plans to provide technical support at all stages of the life cycle, including modernization.

“Along with distributed registry technologies, Big Data, the Internet of Things, fifth-generation communications will be one of the basic technologies of the digital economy. These are the technologies of the future. We are making developments in the field of 5G and are interested in partnerships with foreign manufacturers, such as from India and China. We are striving to create conditions for beneficial development and production of advanced products in Russia,” said Victor Kladov, Rostec’s Director for International Cooperation and Regional Policy.

State Corporation Rostec is implementing a large-scale program for the development of high-tech civilian production in accordance with the approved Strategy, the main objectives of which are annual revenue growth by an average of 17% in ruble terms through 2025, increasing the share of civilian products in revenue to 50%, and entering new global markets.

Rostec is a Russian State Corporation established in 2007 with the purpose of facilitating the development, manufacture and export of high-tech industrial products for both civil and military purposes. It incorporates over 700 entities that currently form 11 holdings operating in the military-industrial complex and 4 holdings active in civilian industries, as well as over 80 directly supervised organizations. Rostec’s portfolio includes such well-known brands as AVTOVAZ, KAMAZ, Kalashnikov Concern, Russian Helicopters, VSMPO-AVISMA, Uralvagonzavod, and others. Rostec companies are located in 60 regions of the Russian Federation and supply products to the markets of over 100 countries. According to Rostec’s Development Strategy, the mission of the Corporation is to ensure Russia’s technological advantage on highly competitive international markets. One of Rostec’s key goals is to implement a new technological way of living and to promote the digitalization of Russia’s economy.

GarryB wrote:Actually I really wonder why the Russians don't fund alternatives to Facebook and Twitter and the like and promise not to censor or block any pages of memberships of any people who are not listed as terrorists or terrorist states in Russia...

I mean they are not complex websites... they became popular because of word of mouth... ie I am on facebook are you? (I would add I am not on facebook or twitter or any of that shit... I am not even signed up to Youtube...).

Certainly a Russian Youtube equivalent that is not anti gun or anti anything would be nice... I already use Yandex over Google for search and translations...

Putin proposed replacing Wikipedia with another encyclopedia

MOSCOW, Nov 5 - RIA News. Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed replacing Wikipedia in Russia with a new Big Russian Encyclopedia in electronic form.
"Regarding Wik

"Regarding Wikipedia ... It’s better to replace it with the Big Russian new encyclopedia in electronic form ... Here it will be, in any case, reliable information in a good modern form," Putin said at a meeting of the Russian Language Council.

Earlier in September it was reported that almost 1.7 billion rubles could be allocated for the creation of the Russian analogue of Wikipedia in 2020-2022, and the Big Russian Encyclopedia publishing house is planning to allocate the corresponding subsidy. This was stated in the appendix to the draft law "On the federal budget for 2020 and for the planning period 2021 and 2022".

https://ria.ru/20191105/1560606946.html

The-thing-next-door wrote:Wait is there an RuTube?

GarryB wrote:More importantly, they can say that because the west and the US are imposing illegal sanctions on Russia then for the duration of those sanctions including the laws in the US regarding Russia including that CSTA law or whatever it is and the Magnistky act whatever it is called, then Russia will not recognise copyright from US products including movies, tv, music, etc.

Russian alternative to Wikipedia to be fully launched by summer of 2022, says publisher

MOSCOW, November 21. /TASS/. An online project that is being created based on the Great Russian Encyclopedia will be fully launched by the summer of 2022, Executive Editor of the Great Russian Encyclopedia and scholarly publisher Sergei Kravets said in an interview with TASS.

"The project, which began in July, is anticipated to take 33 months. It will be completed by the spring or summer of 2022," he specified.

According to Kravets, the online encyclopedia does not have a name yet, but its creators would like its name to refer to the Great Russian Encyclopedia.

When choosing name options, the creators looked into the results of public opinion polls conducted in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg. They sought to figure out what the Great Russian Encyclopedia was associated with in people’s minds. "As many as 35% of students are aware of its existence, they consider it to be reliable but a bit outdated. As for professors, nearly 100% are acquainted with the encyclopedia and believe it to be fundamental and reliable. If we create something new, we need to maintain continuity, credibility, depth and reliability, but at the same time, we should eliminate its antiquatedness and reach out to new areas," the executive editor pointed out.

"This is why the name should probably be preserved," he added.


Translation into other languages

The Wikipedia-style Russian online encyclopedia may be translated into other languages in the future, Sergei Kravets said in an interview with TASS. According to him, BRICS countries — Brazil, India, China and South Africa — are particularly interested in it.

"Our colleagues in BRICS countries have a great need for an encyclopedia, because they are unwilling to use Britannica. Universal encyclopedias are a very rare thing. There are national ones, and in fact, there are three huge reputable encyclopedias at the moment, which include Britannica, the [German-language] Brockhaus Enzyklopadie and us. A thing to note is that we have the least number of readers because the Russian language is not widely used nowadays," Kravets emphasized.

According to the executive editor, there are researchers and editors who can translate the GRE web portal into other languages but it will require significant expenditures. "In theory, we have such a task on our hands because many countries are interested in our encyclopedia content. About 22-23% of our information is Russia-related, while everything else is general content," Kravets added.

Initiation ceremony

The Great Russian Encyclopedia web portal will be presented at a conference in Ufa on November 21. "It will involve our regional colleagues, encyclopedia experts, because we plan to actively cooperate with regional experts, going even as far as creating regional encyclopedias on our web portal," Kravets explained. According to him, about 270 people are currently working on the project. Besides, users who succeed in proving their competence will participate in drafting some of the encyclopedia’s articles.

Its launch is scheduled for late spring in 2022. Apart from including information and research content, the web portal will also offer controversial articles and host debates.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting of the Russian Language Council on November 5 that unlike Wikipedia, a digital version of the Great Russian Encyclopedia could become a source of reliable information.

Kravets added that apart from the web portal, work was also underway on a digital version of the Great Russian Encyclopedia, which had been published in 2004-2017 and needs to be updated.

https://tass.com/society/1091455

PhSt wrote:

GarryB wrote:More importantly, they can say that because the west and the US are imposing illegal sanctions on Russia then for the duration of those sanctions including the laws in the US regarding Russia including that CSTA law or whatever it is and the Magnistky act whatever it is called, then Russia will not recognise copyright from US products including movies, tv, music, etc.

I am writing a letter to both FSB and SVR concerning this matter, they need to seriously consider this proposition.

Meanwhile,

Russian alternative to Wikipedia to be fully launched by summer of 2022, says publisher

MOSCOW, November 21. /TASS/. An online project that is being created based on the Great Russian Encyclopedia will be fully launched by the summer of 2022, Executive Editor of the Great Russian Encyclopedia and scholarly publisher Sergei Kravets said in an interview with TASS.

"The project, which began in July, is anticipated to take 33 months. It will be completed by the spring or summer of 2022," he specified.

According to Kravets, the online encyclopedia does not have a name yet, but its creators would like its name to refer to the Great Russian Encyclopedia.

When choosing name options, the creators looked into the results of public opinion polls conducted in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg. They sought to figure out what the Great Russian Encyclopedia was associated with in people’s minds. "As many as 35% of students are aware of its existence, they consider it to be reliable but a bit outdated. As for professors, nearly 100% are acquainted with the encyclopedia and believe it to be fundamental and reliable. If we create something new, we need to maintain continuity, credibility, depth and reliability, but at the same time, we should eliminate its antiquatedness and reach out to new areas," the executive editor pointed out.

"This is why the name should probably be preserved," he added.


Translation into other languages

The Wikipedia-style Russian online encyclopedia may be translated into other languages in the future, Sergei Kravets said in an interview with TASS. According to him, BRICS countries — Brazil, India, China and South Africa — are particularly interested in it.

"Our colleagues in BRICS countries have a great need for an encyclopedia, because they are unwilling to use Britannica. Universal encyclopedias are a very rare thing. There are national ones, and in fact, there are three huge reputable encyclopedias at the moment, which include Britannica, the [German-language] Brockhaus Enzyklopadie and us. A thing to note is that we have the least number of readers because the Russian language is not widely used nowadays," Kravets emphasized.

According to the executive editor, there are researchers and editors who can translate the GRE web portal into other languages but it will require significant expenditures. "In theory, we have such a task on our hands because many countries are interested in our encyclopedia content. About 22-23% of our information is Russia-related, while everything else is general content," Kravets added.

Initiation ceremony

The Great Russian Encyclopedia web portal will be presented at a conference in Ufa on November 21. "It will involve our regional colleagues, encyclopedia experts, because we plan to actively cooperate with regional experts, going even as far as creating regional encyclopedias on our web portal," Kravets explained. According to him, about 270 people are currently working on the project. Besides, users who succeed in proving their competence will participate in drafting some of the encyclopedia’s articles.

Its launch is scheduled for late spring in 2022. Apart from including information and research content, the web portal will also offer controversial articles and host debates.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting of the Russian Language Council on November 5 that unlike Wikipedia, a digital version of the Great Russian Encyclopedia could become a source of reliable information.

Kravets added that apart from the web portal, work was also underway on a digital version of the Great Russian Encyclopedia, which had been published in 2004-2017 and needs to be updated.

https://tass.com/society/1091455