MOSCOW—Sonic Duo, which has the third GSM license in Moscow, finally went on air in the capital this month after numerous delays caused by frequency problems. The main result is the arrival of the pan-Russian Megafon project of St. Petersburg-based Telecominvest holding in the Russian capital.
Sonic Duo, which was initially seen as an independent market player, merged into the Megafon project with the North-Western GSM carrier of Telecominvest this year and in August began to serve North-Western GSM roamers in Moscow. It took Sonic Duo another three months to go on air itself and offer its tariffs to potential clients. There was practically no advertising campaign in the media or on billboards.
Sonic Duo was expected to fight for a place in the capital with lower prices than its rivals. However, its major competitors—Mobile Telesystems (MTS) and BeeLine—introduced lower tariffs right before the start-up, thus stripping the new carrier of the edge.
Still, Martti Huttunen, Megafon coordinating council chairman, showed optimism, saying the launch of the project in Moscow was “one of the most important events for the Russian mobile market of late.”
“We are strongly poised to fight for leadership on the mobile communications market. Megafon… became the first operator to offer its services in both Russian capitals,” he said. St. Petersburg is often dubbed as the second Russian capital.
The Moscow network was constructed by Ericsson with the use of 2.5-generation technologies. It offers General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and may evolve to third-generation (3G) standards.
However, experts believe numerous delays in the launch have undermined Sonic Duo’s prospects in the capital. They estimate the new carrier will get the utmost of 30,000 subscribers in Moscow by the end of the year, while the growth for MTS and BeeLine will be much bigger.
“We do not expect dramatic changes in the market. Sonic Duo was late to enter the market, which is tired of numerous delays in the launch,” said MTS spokeswoman Eva Prokofyeva.
Experts are now more interested in how Moscow-based competitors will fire back in St. Petersburg. MTS is expected to launch its network in the city in December, and a wide advertising campaign is in full swing there.
BeeLine is vying for a third GSM license in St. Petersburg and Communications Minister Leonid Reiman recently said the carrier was the most likely contender to win it.
