Communication with space: five years of Tricolor and Eutelsat on the VSAT market in Russia

Five years of the "Satellite Internet" project of Tricolor and the subsidiary of Eutelsat S.A. - Konnect, Russia - sets trends in the VSAT market in Russia. During this time, the operator managed to change the understanding of customers, proving that satellite Internet can be high-speed and affordable, as well as providing access to the network for residents of many remote regions of our country.
The service has been available to Tricolor customers since September 2016. The project was created for the business segment, but after a while it became popular in the B2C market. The demand for the service among individuals has grown to a greater extent due to the fact that the operator has adjusted its pricing policy and the offer has become more accessible. Instead of the initial 40 thousand rubles, today customers can purchase a set of receiving equipment at a price of 7,500 rubles. The operator also launched favorable tariffs for unlimited Internet with a choice of speed for different needs - up to 40 Mbps. This speed is sufficient for fast loading of sites, multimedia materials, games and applications. In five years, Tricolor has managed to almost double the share of individuals in the entire VSAT market - up to 31%. This figure continues to grow.
Today 92% of clients of the "Satellite Internet" service are individuals who use the Internet for work, study and viewing multimedia content. Some of them live in large cities and spend several months a year at their dachas. Most of these clients are located in the Moscow region. The service is also popular among residents of regions remote from the center with difficult climatic conditions, where satellite Internet is the only way to connect to the network. A high demand for satellite Internet is observed in the subjects of the Siberian Federal District and the north of the country - the Arkhangelsk region, the Komi Republic, the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. The advantages of the "Satellite Internet" service have already been appreciated by more than 13.5 thousand clients throughout Russia.
Tricolor continues to increase the share of customers in the B2B segment. Since 2019, this figure has doubled: from 4% to 8%.
“We expect to increase this share to 15-16% in a year and a half. From September we will launch a new corporate tariff line for clients with guaranteed bandwidth. It will be possible to connect up to 25 satellite terminals at one tariff, ”says the Head of the satellite internet division Daniil Nirman.
The multi-platform operator with the help of the "Satellite Internet" project is successfully realizing its social mission. For example, Tricolor supplied 150 sets of receiving equipment to schools in the Sverdlovsk region at the request of local authorities. Teachers were able to use electronic journals and show multimedia educational materials in the classroom.
“Despite the growing availability of the Internet throughout the world, fast Internet access is still an urgent problem in Russia. It is largely due to the size of our country and the large number of hard-to-reach places. In five years of partnership with Tricolor, the satellite communications operator Konnect, Russia (a subsidiary of Eutelsat S.A.) has become the fastest growing operator in Russia. We offer favorable conditions for sets of equipment, introduce new tariffs and develop a dealer network. We are also strengthening our work not only in the mass market, where the share of our connections is at least 80% of the total, but also in services for business, ”explains Dmitry Bronner, CEO of Konnect in Russia.
Two-way broadband Internet access within the framework of the Satellite Internet project is provided by the Express-AMU1 (Eutelsat 36C) and Yamal 601 satellites. The forward link speed can reach 100 Mbps, and the reverse one - 10 Mbps.

* Based on ComNews Research February 2021.