In less than a decade, MegaFon grew to be Russia’s second largest operator in terms of revenue and no.1 in mobile broadband. COO Valery Ermakov explains what the operator has done right.
At Mobile World Congress 2012, MegaFon’s COO Valery Ermakov discussed the operator’s mobile broadband leadership position and its LTE plan. MegaFon is Russia’s second largest operator in terms of revenue and subscribers, but it’s certainly No.1 in the mobile broadband arena, accounting for 43.4% of total Russian Internet traffic, with good profits to boot. This has come about because MegaFon has been investing seriously in mobile broadband since 2003. Ermakov has a strong belief in the potential of mobile broadband in Russia. “We have vast territory and undeveloped fixed line infrastructure in Russia. For us it is a good opportunity to become not only a mobile operator but also an Internet service provider for all the Russians.”
2013 will mark the 10th anniversary of MegaFon’s relationship with Huawei. “We are very happy to have reliable equipment and very good service (from Huawei). And I would say the attitude of the Huawei staff is very amazing. It is a really client-oriented service.”
When asked about his impressions of this year’s MWC, Ermakov noticed a shift towards content. “Right now, the most discussed issue is content. We are not talking about services, equipment, or technical aspects. In my view, it is the future of telecom. Telecom is going to be not only some sort of technology-oriented industry; it is going to be a client-oriented industry which will bring a lot of content to our clients. Content will be the king of the industry within next 10 years.”
