Experts roundtable on "Cooperation of the Russian electronic industry in order to prepare for the transition to digital broadcasting in Russia"

Experts roundtable on "Cooperation of the Russian electronic industry in order to prepare for the transition to digital broadcasting in Russia" took place on April 8, 2010 in the town of Gousev, Kaliningrad region, organized by MIDEXPO company with support from Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Russian Tele- and Radio broadcasting Network". The official partner of the event was the Radio-Electronic Equipment Manufacturers and Traders Association of the Kaliningrad region "The General Satellite Corporation", media partner of the project - the Telesputnik magazine.

About 50 participants took part in the roundtable, including A. Malinin, Director General of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Russian Tele- and Radio broadcasting Network" (FSUE RTRN); D. Severov, Deputy Minister of Communications and Mass Media; Y. Borisov, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade; Minister of Infrastructure Development of the Kaliningrad region A. Rolbinov. Russian radio-electronic industry was presented by companies - manufacturers of digital TV equipment the General Satellite Corporation (St. Petersburg), Promsvyaz (Ufa), Signal (Stavropol), Frunze Plant (Nyzhny Novgorod), Globo Trading (Kaliningrad), Galaxy Innovation (Moscow), Irtysh (Omsk), Wave (Penza), Enterprise im. Kozitskogo (St. Petersburg), Russian association of electronics manufacturers APEAP (Moscow R&D Television Institute). Representatives of Belorussian "Vytyaz'" and "SiS" enterprises also took part to share experiences.
  
Tour of production facilities of “The Digital Television Systems Research and Production Association” ("The DTSRPA") and "Prankor" factory was organized for the members of the roundtable. These enterprises are part of “The area of scientific and technological development – Technopolis Gusev” Project, where The Radio-Electronic Equipment Manufacturers and Traders Association of the Kaliningrad region "The General Satellite Corporation" is a primary investor. “The DTSRPA” radio-electronic equipment production plant, a manufacturer of digital set-top boxes, demonstrated to the roundtable members its manufacturing capabilities - from motherboards and assembly to the testing and packing. "Prankor" factory introduced visitors to the manufacturing of the receivers cases and satellite dishes using a cold stamping process, as well as to painting shop and plastic machines.
  
The main topic of discussion at the roundtable was the competitiveness of Russian manufacturers of equipment for the project "The development of digital broadcasting in Russia in 2009-2015", as well as possibilities of cooperation and partnership to jointly address the challenges of digitalization. In addition, guests of the round table raised topics such as the current state of the FTP "Development of digital broadcasting", the state of affairs in the test areas and the prospects of the project. Theme "Supply of the population with equipment for receiving digital broadcasting signals and social aspects of this problem" provoked especially heated debates.
  
Roundtable participants expressed their appreciation of the exchange of views. It was suggested that such roundtables with participation of regulators of the process of digitalization and industry representatives should be held more frequently, perhaps on the basis of other Russian production sites.

Alexei V. Malinin, Director General of the FSUE RTRN. "The first multiplex is to be launched this year in eight regions of the Russian Far East, digital broadcasting was launched in the Kursk region. Broadcasting in Moscow and Moscow region will be launched later this year as well, and construction began in St. Petersburg and Leningrad region. Finally, two multiplexes will start broadcasting in the Kaliningrad region by June this year."
  
Dmitri S. Severov, Deputy Minister of Communications and Mass Media:
"The main goal of the Federal program is to provide all the population in places of permanent residence with a package of public nationwide TV and radio channels, contents of which were set by the Decree of the President. There are a number of other possibilities, a number of ways to bring modern digital broadcasting to consumers. To help us provide and not to forget the interests of related industries, and primarily instrumentation industry, microelectronic industry, it is necessary that the interests of these industries be  voiced by their major players and the sooner the better."

Yury I. Borisov, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade
"We are trying to build a comprehensive program, which should be directed at Russian manufacturers. Over the past three years, taking account of the new federal programs, we are trying to encourage both manufacturers of professional and consumer equipment. Professional Russian transceiver equipment manufacturers, as far as I'm aware, are advanced enough now to cover almost all segments of the product line and they could compete on price to quality ratio with world leading manufacturers.

Alexander S. Rolbinov, Minister of Infrastructure Development of the Kaliningrad Region
"One important part of federal program is to provide set-top boxes to less well-off segment of the population. The approach is very simple - we will pay for the set-top boxes themselves as well as for installation from the regional budget. In addition, we are fortunate that Kaliningrad has a major manufacturer of such set-top boxes as the General Satellite Corporation, with whom we have met many times. Also there are tenders to be announced for the supply of subscriber satellite set-top boxes for needy families. So, all Russian based manufacturers of such devices can participate."

Tkachenko, Andrey G., President of The Radio-Electronic Equipment Manufacturers and Traders Association of the Kaliningrad region "The General Satellite Corporation"

"I would encourage all present to accept our proposal, made today. Namely: to streamline the exchange of experiences, which should be hold regularly on venues possibly provided by other market participants, in order to exchange views and to co-operate whenever possible in rapidly changing environment when the rules of the game in the digitalization of the RF are being set. In any case, we all have to negotiate, to persuade the Government to help to at least keep what is already there. It is very important to understand and remember when we negotiate among ourselves that we do not compete with each other, we compete primarily with China.