BOOKMARKS www.domodedovo.ru/en Domodedovo airport
www.vnukovo.ru/eng Vnukovo airport
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www.comstar-uts.ru/en Comstar – United TeleSys-
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tems website DISTRIBUTED WITH THE DAILY TELEGRAPH TUESDAY_DECEMBER 22_2009 Business
Hi-tech Travellers at Moscow airports will soon
have much improved internet access
WiMAX technology comes
to Moscow airports
Competition for transit structions in the main Europe- numbers in recent years, Sher-
passengers has sparked rapid an languages. emetyevo began to bring in in-
redevelopment at Moscow’s The only area where a few prob- novations in its telecommuni-
airports. The enhanced business lems have occurred is with the cations much earlier than oth-
and leisure facilities will soon call boxes offering access to the ers. Thus, wireless access to the
include WiMAX technology, internet. “For some reason, this internet became available in
offering customers greater innovation is not particularly the old Terminals A and B (for-
access to mobile broadband. popular with passengers in merly Sheremetyevo-1 and
Moscow,” says Pridantsev. “It is Sheremetyevo-2) as long ago as
VIKTOR KUZMIN
quite possible that passengers 2004. (Rival airports Domode-
RUSSIA NOW still don’t have much need of dovo and Vnukovo launched
this service, or are wary of using their Wi-Fi networks only in
“I once had to spend about 10 their mailbox password on 2007.) Also, in 2007 Shereme-
hours in one of Europe’s biggest public equipment.” tyevo was the first airport in
airports,” recalls Moscow jour- Comstar-OTS has been work- Russia to install self check-in
nalist Viktor Shvedkov. “The ing with Sheremetyevo airport facilities. Domodedovo can
fl ight from Chicago was getting for more than 15 years. One of claim to have been ahead in ca-
in at about eight o’clock in the the biggest telecommunica- tering to passengers who have
morning, but the plane for Mos- tions operators in Russia, it to wait a long time for their
cow wasn’t taking off till about built its own fibre-optic net- fl ight, either because of weath-
six in the evening. I had to while work at the airport. A fully er conditions or because of
away the time in one of the air- functioning automatic tele- transit timetable errors: a DVD
port’s vast concourses. Fortu- cinema came into operation
nately I had my netbook with there in 2004.
me, with Wi-Fi and WiMAX. ‘In terms of telecom- However, everything may soon
The shops and fi lm sites on the
munications equip-
change on the Russian telecom-
Russian internet helped me to
ment, Terminal D is
munications market. Moscow
GREG BAKER_AP kill the time.”
Flight paths: three airports are vying to become major transport hubs in Moscow Sooner or later the Moscow air
on a par with the best
and other major cities are ac-
tively developing wireless
transport hub will have to deal airports in the world’ WiMAX networks, and two
with similar problems. And this companies are already offering
for an alliance with Lufthansa. from Germany goes to Mos- modedovo, ongoing construc- might be linked not only to tick- 4G internet access in the Rus-
However, there are a few things cow. As for UTair, which has tion is extensive. et reservations but also to cli- phone exchange has been in- sian capital, including Com-
to consider: although Lufthan- increased its share of the do- According to Vitaly Vantsev, mate conditions. Despite global stalled, and world-class manu- star-OTS. The company has al-
sa’s partner Fraport was mestic market recently, it pre- deputy general director of warming, a lot of snow still falls facturers, such as Cisco and ready applied for the necessary
among the winners in the ten- fers Vnukovo. Whether the Vnukovo, a new terminal – one in many northern regions of ZyXEL, have been used to sup- radio frequencies in the Mos-
der for the reconstruction and German company will agree to of Europe’s largest – will be Russia in winter, and transit ply data transmission and in- cow region, and is planning to
management of St Peters- change an airport for the sake completed by 2012. passengers can quite easily run ternet access technology. set up 100 additional base sta-
burg’s Pulkovo airport, it won’t of its Russian partner is anoth- If all goes to plan, all three air- into fl ight delays. However, this “Installing this equipment will tions in this area.
be easy to adjust business for er question. ports will become major air was taken into account during enable us not only to offer po- Any passenger who has a mo-
connections with Russian There are no doubts about hubs, which will undoubtedly construction of the new termi- tential users a choice of tech- bile device supported by the ap-
fl ights in St Petersburg, as the Vnukovo’s technical capacity: pave the way for new levels of nal at Sheremetyevo interna- nologies for service provision propriate technology (for ex-
bulk of the passenger flow like Sheremetyevo and Do- competition.
-
tional airport. but also to integrate the termi- ample the ColibriComstar uni-
“In terms of telecommunica- nal company’s internal distri- versal netbook with built-in
tions equipment, Terminal D is bution network with Comstar’s WiMAX, 3G, Wi-Fi and GPRS/
on a par with the best airports transport network,” said Pri- EDGE modules) will thus be
SkyTeam is happy with Terminal D
in the world,” says Sergei Pri- dantsev. “The equipment we’re able to gain access to the inter-
dantsev, president of Comstar- proposing to deploy makes it net and fi ll their waiting time
OTS, the company which won possible to offer high-speed in- with any entertainment they
the tender to supply telecom- ternet access and data transfer wish.
Leonid Tarasov, Delta Air Lines Was there something at Shereme- ing to official statistics. Delta Air munications services for the services, and to build virtual And they will no longer be de-
general representative, Russia tyevo that Delta was unhappy with Lines offers only transatlantic terminal. “This applies both to private networks using sym- pendent on Wi-Fi hotspot areas,
and CIS, says Sheremetyevo before? flights from Russia, which is a the VIP lounges, which offer tel- metric broadband channels.” since the WiMAX technology
Terminal D meets the high The old international terminal, very narrow segment of the mar- ephone and broadband inter- Despite the fact that the private will enable them to move freely
standards of SkyTeam. Sheremetyevo-2, was built for ket. The passenger flow from net access with the possibility Domodedovo airport has taken throughout the whole of the
the 1980 Moscow Olympic Russia to the United States in- of local billing, and to areas for the lead in terms of passenger airport and the city.
-
Does the new Terminal D at Mos- Games; its logistical standards creased by 6pc over this period, general use.”
cow’s Sheremetyevo airport meet have long been obsolete. Immi- fi gures show. The new terminal is equipped
international standards? gration and customs control fa- with digital telephone systems
Certainly. In terms of planning cilities no longer meet today’s When the crisis is over and the pas- (local and international) and
and completeness, not to men- requirements. The market and senger flow resumes its growth at internet access for both tenants
tion design, the new Terminal D passenger demands have pre-crisis levels, will the new ter- and passengers. A Wi-Fi net-
is one of the world’s best airport changed greatly since the ter- minal’s capacity be sufficient for work has been built and call
terminals. It is behind the largest minal was built. Terminal D is SkyTeam? boxes have been installed, in-
international facilities only in a completely new, state-of-the- More than enough. The old cluding some for disabled peo-
terms of size. Delta’s principal art structure, and it is in full Sheremetyevo-2 terminal could ple. There is cable television,
hub in Atlanta can service almost compliance with the high service up to 11 million people and there are plans to open a
120 million people a year, while standards of SkyTeam [an alli- during peak times. The new ter- free cinema showing non-stop
Moscow’s Terminal D can take ance of several major airlines]. minal’s capacity is 12 million. films. On top of that, the new
just 12 million, and Shereme- Also, we should not forget that terminal will offer the possibil-
tyevo as a whole 36 million. Bear How has the global economic cri- this terminal will mostly serv- ity of SMS authorisation for
in mind, however, that Ameri- sis affected Delta’s passenger ice SkyTeam member carriers, customers of Russian mobile
cans travel much more than Rus- volumes from Russia? while Sheremetyevo-2 was also operators. Comstar-OTS has
sians, and there are two other in- From January to September used by other carriers. The ca- installed 18 latest-generation
ternational airports in Moscow: 2009, Russia’s international air pacity will be sufficient for call boxes in the new terminal, PHOTOXPRESS
Domodedovo and Vnukovo. traffic dropped by 24pc, accord- many years to come.
-
all equipped with detailed in- High-speed wireless internet is available in all of Moscow’s airports
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