Telecommunications in Russia
Photograph by Meet the Media Guruon Flickr.
The state possessed all telecommunications structure and access networks. In 1988 approximately 75 million households owned television sets, and an estimated 93 percent of the population watched television.
Both state and private stations Telecommunications in Russia can have a national status (broadcasters that reach over 70% of the national territory), or a regional, district or local status. In 1994 the investment communication company (OJSC “Sviazinvest”) was established by the Presidential Decree #1989 dated October 10, 1994 “On the specific features of the state management of the Telecommunications in Russia electric communication network for public use in Russian Federation”.
There were few channels in the Soviet time, but in the past two decades many new state-run and private-owned radio stations and TV channels appeared. Moscow, the base from which most of the television stations broadcast, transmitted some 90 Telecommunications in Russia percent of the country s programs, with the help of more than 350 stations and nearly 1,400 relay facilities. There are about 15,000 TV transmitters.
Development of domestic digital TV transmitters, led within Multichannel research program, had already been finished. Local partners are often united in bigger networks. In the 1970s and 1980s, television become the preeminent mass medium.
On September 2009 the Radio Frequency Service, the national regulator of broadcasting, has decided on the DRM has the standard for mediumwave and shortwave services. Radios: 61.5 million (1998) Radio broadcasting stations: AM 420, FM 447, shortwave 56 (1998). Privately owned stations are often owned by industrial groups either controlled by the State or with close connections to the government so that they can be called semi-state. New domestic digital transmitters have been developed and installed in Nizhniy Novgorod and Saint Petersburg in 2001-2002. The state public television broadcaster is Pervy kanal (Channel One). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 83 (in Russia and Kazakhstan combined (1999)) Country code top-level domain: RU (Also SU - left from Soviet Union) Afghanistan · Armenia1 · Azerbaijan1 · Bahrain · Bangladesh · Bhutan · Brunei · Burma2 · Cambodia · People s Republic of China · Cyprus1 · East Timor3 · Egypt4 · Georgia4 · India · Indonesia · Iran · Iraq · Israel · Japan · Jordan · Kazakhstan4 · North Korea · South Korea · Kuwait · Kyrgyzstan · Laos · Lebanon · Malaysia · Maldives · Mongolia · Nepal · Oman · Pakistan · Philippines · Qatar · Russia4 · Saudi Arabia · Singapore · Sri Lanka · Syria · Tajikistan · Republic of China5 · Thailand · Turkey4 · Turkmenistan · United Arab Emirates · Uzbekistan · Vietnam · Yemen Abkhazia1 · Nagorno-Karabakh · Northern Cyprus · Palestine · South Ossetia1 · Aceh · Adjara1 · Akrotiri and Dhekelia · Altai · British Indian Ocean Territory · Buryatia · Christmas Island · Cocos (Keeling) Islands · Guangxi · Hong Kong · Inner Mongolia · Iraqi Kurdistan · Khakassia · Macau · Nakhchivan · Ningxia · Papua · Sakha Republic · Tibet · Tuva · West Papua · Xinjiang · Albania · Andorra · Armenia1 · Austria · Azerbaijan1 · Belarus · Belgium · Bosnia and Herzegovina · Bulgaria · Croatia · Cyprus1 · Czech Republic · Denmark · Estonia · Finland · France · Georgia1 · Germany · Greece · Hungary · Iceland · Ireland · Italy · Kazakhstan2 · Latvia · Liechtenstein · Lithuania · Luxembourg · Macedonia · Malta · Moldova · Monaco · Montenegro · Netherlands · Norway · Poland · Portugal · Romania · Russia2 · San Marino · Serbia · Slovakia · Slovenia · Spain · Sweden · Switzerland · Turkey2 · Ukraine · United Kingdom (England • Northern Ireland • Scotland • Wales) Abkhazia1 · Kosovo · Nagorno-Karabakh1 · Northern Cyprus1 · South Ossetia1 · Transnistria Adjara1 · Adygea · Akrotiri and Dhekelia · Åland · Azores · Bashkortostan · Chechnya · Chuvashia · Crimea · Dagestan · Faroe Islands · Gagauzia · Gibraltar · Guernsey · Ingushetia · Jan Mayen · Jersey · Kabardino-Balkaria · Kalmykia · Karachay-Cherkessia · Republic of Karelia · Komi Republic · Madeira · Isle of Man · Mari El · Mordovia · Nakhchivan1 · North Ossetia-Alania · Republika Srpska · Svalbard · Tatarstan · Udmurtia · Vojvodina .
In the rural areas, the telephone services are still outdated, inadequate, and low density. Until the end of 1991 (the end of the USSR), the sole fixed line telephone operator in the country was the Ministry of Communications of the USSR. In 2008 it was re-subordinated back to Minvsyazi . Telephones - main lines in use: 25.019 million (1995) Telephones - mobile cellular: 161,000,000 (2007) The telephone systems in the 60 regional capitals have modern digital infrastructures; cellular services, both analog and digital, are available in many areas.
In 2005 a state-run English language Russia Today TV started broadcasting, and its Arabic version Rusiya Al-Yaum was launched in 2007. The telecommunications system in Russia have undergone significant changes since the 1980s, resulting in more than 1,000 companies licensed to offer communication services today. Due to the enormous size of the country Russia leads in the number of TV broadcast stations and repeaters.
Russia was among the first countries to introduce radio and television. The authorised capital of OJSC “Sviazinvest” was formed by the consolidation of federal shares of joint stock companies acting in the area of electric communications and established during the privatisation of the state enterprises for electric communications. Cross-country digital trunk lines run from Saint Petersburg to Vladivostok, and from Moscow to Novorossiysk. Russia is connected internationally by three undersea fiber-optic cables; digital switches in several cities provide more than 50,000 lines for international calls; satellite earth stations provide access to Intelsat, Intersputnik, Eutelsat, Inmarsat, and Orbita. Digital radio broadcasting is developing fast with the Voice of Russia announced on 1 July 2004, the successful implementation, and planned expansion, of its DRM broadcasts on short-wave and medium-wave.
