One of Russia's largest private equity funds, Icon Private Equity, will be investing US$200 million to establish a national WiMAX operator. The new operator will deploy in the remoter regions of Russia and the CIS, aiming for a market of 20 million customers.
"Icon Private Equity plans to invest US$200 million in developing WiMAX networks in Russia's regions," Kirill Dmitriev, the fund's Managing Partner has declared. This investment is a part of Icon's broader strategy of becoming the major WiMAX operator across the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a strategy that has already seen the group invest US$100 million in UHT, a WiMAX operator in Ukraine.
Kiril Dmitriev announced that the networks will be deployed in the Digital Divide regions, where broadband Internet availability is presently insufficient.. The fund plans to launch the operator's commercial services by October 2009 and intends to cover a population of 20 million by the end of the year. The service will be offered to both individual subscribers and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs).
The operator company will capitalise on both the growth of Internet usage in Russia's regions and its ability to bring to market easy-to-use WiMAX wireless products - similar in price and quality to fixed-line products. Huawei has been awarded a contract for supply of the equipment for the new network. Additional funding for network deployment will be provided in a form of loans from China's leading financial institutions.
A major appointment comes in the form of Sergei Avdeev, former Executive Vice-President of VimpelCom, who is the new company's CEO.
Further comment came from Kiril Dmitrev: "The Russian government takes unprecedented steps to support foreign direct investments in the innovative industries and creates an easy path for the inflow of funds to the Russian economy."
Icon Private Equity is a leading private equity fund in Russia and Ukraine with over US$1 billion under management. It invests in fast-growing companies in the financial, telecoms, retail, media and IT sectors in Russia and the CIS.
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