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History and Perspectives of Internet Development in Russia. By Andrey Kuprianov. Historical Background. Breakdown of Soviet Union (USSR) in 1991 Hyperinflation (over 2,000%) Closed country, suddenly became open. Historical Background (cont.) . No computer or information technology capacity
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History and Perspectives of Internet Development in Russia By Andrey Kuprianov
Historical Background • Breakdown of Soviet Union (USSR) in 1991 • Hyperinflation (over 2,000%) • Closed country, suddenly became open
Historical Background (cont.) • No computer or information technology capacity • No good telecommunications • No market of potential users • However - strong body of programmers
Stages of Internet Development • Initial, or pre-Internet (1991-1993) • Central region spread (1994-1995) – Moscow and St. Petersburg • Country-wide spread (1996-2005) • Average lag between countries with developed Internet is 3-5 years
Initial Stage • Registration of .SU (Sep, 1990) 1st level domain • Limited access to EUNet • Most popular - FIDO net (BBS) • Basic information • Email • File archive access • Mostly centralized in banks, financial companies and universities
Central Region Spread • Milestone for present Internet in Russia • Registration of .RU (Apr, 1994) • Permanent access to EUNet • Lack of good communication lines ensured heavy reliance on satellite links (except in Moscow and St.Petersburg)
Central Region Spread (cont.) • First internet services • Attempts to create academic and training networks
Current stage: Country-wide spread • Moscow - Khabarovsk Trans-Siberian Radio Relay Communication Channel construction (1996) • Later replaced with fiber optics (1999) • Starting from year 1996, Russian Internet displays a quick burst of emerging services
Current Stage (cont.) • First search engine ( www.rambler.ru ) • First internet-café in Russia named “Tetris” (St. Petersburg) • First free e-mail service • First online museum • First real-time broadcasting of radio • First online shopping, advertisement agency, an political web-sites • First public sue of a Russian hacker
Current Stage (cont.) • Development stage • Growth of internet users higher that the growth of services • Currently, all kinds of services are available • ADSL is gradually replacing dial-up access • Prices start from 15$/month (www.stream.ru ) – affordable • Current access through DSL and fiber-optics exceeded the dial-up access (as of 2003)
User Statistics • Currently over 20 million internet users • Forecasted to be around 30 million by 2010
User Statistics (cont.) • Currently near 10% of the total population of Russia use Internet • Indicates that Internet is becoming a mass event • However, income of people is far from what’s needed: • Income - 100$/month an up • Computer cost – 700$ and up.
User Statistics (cont.) • Internet is mostly used in the offices and homes
Domain Statistics • .RU is a preferred 1st level domain for Russian subscribers (over 97% of them) • Then .SU, .COM, .NET and others • Totally over 380,000 domain registrations as of Aug, 2005 ( http://stat.nic.ru )
Domain Statistics (cont.) • Hosting services on the Internet became available only in the year 2000 • Domain registrations in Moscow and St. Petersburg are declining • Other regions are actively participating in the process
Domain Statistics (cont.) • Internet in Russia is relatively young and so are it users
Mobile Internet • 70% of mobile users are located in Moscow and St. Petersburg • Total mobile “population” is slightly over 20 millions of people • Costs of mobile connectivity are affordable • Weird thing: some providers still charge incoming calls
Mobile Internet • However, somewhat large percent of people are willing to use mobile Internet