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Officials of the Global One
telecommunications company, which began operations in 1990,
discuss future projects at a recent press conference in Moscow.
The company said it wants to become a ‘solutions provider.’
[TRJ]
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Though it never scored a goal, Global One came out a winner at this
spring’s 2000 World Ice Hockey Championship in St. Petersburg and is
hoping to cash in on that success.
The telecommunications company, which opened its Russia operations
in 1990, says it got a big break when it was chosen to provide
telephone, Internet and support services for the international
two-week event, giving it the opportunity to showcase its services on
a national level.
"A project on that scale was new for the company," said
Viktor Ratnikov, Global One’s C.I.S. area manager, working under
President Tatyana Prokhorova. "We did much more than just the
telecommunications wiring; we laid down the security and computer
networks and set up the broadcasting facilities – all under a very
tight schedule."
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Tatyana Prokhorova [TRJ]
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But the championship contract was significant for more than just
its speedy execution, size and complexity, he added, pointing out that
the job marked a significant milestone for Global One as it strives to
broaden its services and enter the world of e-commerce in Russia.
"We want to move away from being a pure telecom operator to
being a solutions provider," Ratnikov said, adding that the
championship work exemplified this new direction. "We would like
to provide companies with Extranet."
New buzzword
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Dainel Caclin [TRJ]
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Extranet has become something of a buzzword in e-commerce,
according to industry analysts. It is the way companies – often ones
that have tight business relationships – use specially safeguarded
Websites to link up with each other. By setting up an Extranet network,
customers, wholesalers, and maintenance organizations can all work
from a seamless computer network, analysts say.
"Today, a company’s needs are not just limited to internal
information flows," Ratnikov said, adding that Global One would
like to position itself where it can use its specialized Extranet
expertise to win contracts for in-house IT departments.
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Viktor Ratnikov [TRJ]
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It is a strategy that Ratnikov says all telecom companies will have
to consider, one way or another, in order to prosper.
And with worldwide sales of $1.2 billion in 1999, Global One Russia
has the resources to offer the industry’s most advanced services,
analysts say.
Despite losing many customers – mainly multinationals and Russian
banks – in the wake of the 1998 financial crisis, the company
finished both 1998 and 1999 in the black, although it didn’t give
exact figures.
Company officials said sales surpassed $100 million in Russia last
year, and the firm expects to top that in 2000. Nadezhda Golubeva,
telecom analyst at ATON investment group, said Global One falls in the
top 20 telecoms operating in Russia.
In 1998, the Russian State Telecommunications Committee awarded the
firm first prize for quality of equipment and service, and Expert
magazine last year included Global One in its list of the 50 most
respected international companies in the Russian market.
France telecom
Today, the company is entirely owned by the France Telecom Group
and is based in Brussels and headed by Dainel Caclin. But it was first
launched 10 years ago as a joint venture between Sprint – one of the
first Western companies to enter Russia – and the Russian Central
Telegraph agency.
Known as Sprint Russia at that time, the company only dealt with
such data transmission methods as the limited transfer of computer
files between employees of a single company or organization. However,
in 1994, Sprint Russia gained the necessary licenses for voice
transmission and entered the market.
In 1996, when Sprint joined forces with national telecommunications
giants France Telecom and Deutsche Telecom, the company took on its
current name, Global One. Last year, Central Telegraph was bought out
by the other partners, and in January 2000, France Telecom acquired
the remaining shares, becoming Global One’s full owner.
Over the past four years, Global One has built a reputation for its
widespread landline network throughout Russia – it has switches in
more than 300 Russian cities and partnerships with more than 100 local
operators, putting it above any other foreign telecom firm in terms of
geographic coverage, analysts say.
"When they came in, their strategy was to start partnerships
with regional companies, and this gave them a strong position in the
regions," said Jason Frogaros, an analyst at the telecom
consultancy, J’son & Partners. "They [are] certainly in the
top ten in terms of coverage."
However, as an international company with high-capacity fiber-optic
networks in more than 80 countries, Global One has also been well
positioned to gain contracts from multinational companies and
organizations such as Coca-Cola and General Motors, or the Central
Bank and the Moscow International Currency Exchange, analysts say.
Global One has sales offices in 10 major cities – including
Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk and Yekaterinburg – and
has been using this regional network as a stepping stone to build up
its e-commerce services, primarily by working to connect company
headquarters with their branch offices and clients located farther
afield.
For instance, the company has used its satellite-based VSAT (Very
Small Aperture Terminal) equipment to link companies with their
offices in remote places.
"We have done a couple of dozen projects involving VSATs. We
have used this solution with mining companies that work in places
where there is no infrastructure at all," Ratnikov said, adding
that he expects that this service will continue to be in demand here.
‘cost effective’
"The VSAT is the most cost effective way of communication if
you have huge spaces separating offices, and Russia is a huge country
spanning 11 time zones," said Fredric Emmert, senior manager for
corporate communications at Global One.
Several years ago, the company established an ATM-based data
transfer network for Moscow and St. Petersburg clients. That network
is capable of transmitting extremely large amounts of data across
great distances, by breaking them into small-sized packets and sending
them through different routes to be reassembled on the other side.
Ratnikov said that several dozen companies are currently using the
system, but he added that Global One has only been advertising the
service for the last two years. However, some analysts are skeptical
about its applications for Russia.
"The demand isn’t there for such high bandwidth," said
Ari Krel, analyst at United Financial Group.
Global One has also been trying to broaden its horizons by entering
the cellular market, company officials say. A deal with mobile
operator Orange is currently being discussed. However, should it occur,
Global One officials say they would still need to acquire a license to
offer that service in Russia, a process that could take years,
analysts say.
GLOBAL ONE
HEADQUARTERS: Brussels.
Business: Data and voice services and Internet Protocol services.
Focus on multinational and medium-sized firms. Presence in more than
80 countries.
OWNERSHIP: France Telecom.
EMPLOYEES: 5,000 worldwide.
REVENUE: $1.1 bln (1999).
Source: Company information
