Yota whose subsidiary. Who owns the Yota company. History of the owners of the company

Another federal operator appears in Russia under the Yota brand, which after the purchase of the company MegaFon decided to keep and develop as a separate project. In many ways, this operator will be a testing ground for both new services and approaches to the sale of SIM-cards and customer service. Perhaps, if this example turns out to be successful, then we will see symmetric responses from MTS and Beeline, and the number of large operators will unexpectedly double. To understand this topic, let's first study the history of virtual operators on Russian soil.

Virtual operators in Russia - background of the issue

The idea of a virtual operator in Russian reality has gone from a pipe dream to reality. Initially, the Western MVNO experience was seen as something outlandish, something that needed to be launched in Russia in order to curb the brutal appetites of operators and spur competition. The lack of a legislative framework, opposition from the Big Three, the lack of a clear justification for the need for "virtual operators" - all this created an unhealthy excitement around this phenomenon. If in Western countries MVNO acted as a tool for price competition, moreover, a tool launched on the market by the regulator and not by other players, in Russia all these attempts turned into a resounding fiasco. And the reason is not at all in the mythical opposition of the Big Three, the reluctance to let new players in - although this was present, the main reason was the banal absence of excess traffic from operators that could be sold. One of the main conditions for the emergence of a virtual operator is an excess of capacity that can be sold in bulk to a third company. Actually, this is how MVNOs appeared in Europe, they traded surplus traffic under their own brand, and the regulators joined the game later and imposed their own conditions, which many operators considered enslaving, but could not do anything.

The Russian experience of building virtual operators can to some extent be considered unique and different from the world one. Even in the absence of a formed legal framework, MegaFon began to attract new partners, giving them access to its network, which in the early 2000s had surplus traffic, since the subscriber base was only growing and yielding to both MTS and Beeline. The other two operators of the Big Three did not even have the urge to play these games, they grew up confidently and did not get carried away with partisan games. For MegaFon, the term “virtual operator” meant the very connections of new subscribers that could be considered as our own, that gave an increase in the subscriber base, for which they fought at any cost. It was then that the Allo Incognito operator appeared, which can be considered one of the oldest virtual operators in Russia. Two years later, MegaFon already tested the scheme, and virtual operators began to appear like mushrooms after rain - Aviatel, West Call, Globus Telecom, ComStar, Sinter, Matrix Telecom and others. In 2006, a project from the Central Telegraph appeared - Megatel.

A typical feature of Russian virtual operators of that time was the orientation towards their customers, de facto the creation of communication services within the framework of the activities that the companies had already conducted. Nobody tried to become a federal operator, to go beyond the boundaries of a niche. Affected by ambiguity about the legal framework, lack of sufficient investment and unwillingness to play on the field of the big three. And the lack of excess traffic, which by the beginning of 2010 put the very idea of virtual operators in Russia into question. Under the current licenses, virtual operators in Russia can not only resell traffic from other companies, but also develop their own infrastructure. Almost no one uses this opportunity, as it requires large investments and a different approach. One can note such a newcomer as WhyFly, which appeared on the market in 2013 and works only in the Moscow region on the Beeline network. This company installed its own billing system, launched a call-center, which made it possible to compare favorably with Beeline, the service of which the company sells. I am sure that this operator is unknown to most readers. This is typical for any Russian virtual operator, only a few people know and remember about them.

In 2009, MegaFon had a rather curious experience, the Just for Communication tariff was launched as a kind of virtual operator, but in fact, it was a regular tariff plan, and MegaFon's marketing decided to use the hype around this topic and thus attract new subscribers. They succeeded to the full.

In Europe, in recent years, they began to use the approach that MegaFon inadvertently used - operators create their own clones on their networks, but position them differently, as a rule, cheaper. Due to this, the subscriber base is expanding, and the different positioning of each of the projects allows us to fight with almost any company. This is a winning strategy.

Yota is another federal telecom operator

Yota believes that they are creating a fourth federal operator, although Tele2 has long aimed at this place after the sale of VTB, in particular, Rostelecom at the end of last year discussed a plan for the development and transfer of all its assets to the new combined company. The blocking factor is the need to transfer not only material values, but also communication licenses, Tele2 did not have them for 3G / 4G networks, which made the company lagging behind in all regions of presence - it only had text messages and voice. I am sure that the process of forming the fourth operator based on Tele2 will take a long time, as a result, Yota has every chance of becoming the federal operator number 4. Ultimately, in 2015 we will get at least 5 federal operators (the big three, Yota, Tele2), plus, perhaps, similar projects will be launched in MTS and Beeline. There will be a kind of fashion for virtual operators, the very fresh blood and imaginary competition that the market needs. In the eyes of consumers, these operators will compete with each other, although in reality this will only be an appearance.

Let me remind you that Yota was acquired by MegaFon, although it retained its legal independence, it operates separately. Nevertheless, MegaFon consolidates all Yota data in its financial statements. The fourth generation networks that Yota has built are used by MegaFon to provide related services. After the acquisition of Yota, the company became the largest holder of frequencies for LTE in Russia, none of the competitors will be able to get equal opportunities, although Yota, at the filing of the regulator, promised non-discriminatory access to its network. But the same MTS is in no hurry to take advantage of this opportunity, trying to build its own network and give a symmetrical answer.

The emergence of a subsidiary operator for MegaFon is a kind of experiment based on European experience. But if in Europe operators consider their brand to be premium and usually create discounters or low-cost operators that separate them from their brand, then in the case of Yota, the situation is the opposite - this operator focuses on a young, energetic audience. This does not mean the discounter format at all, but rather additional service capabilities, unusual chips attached to an already existing basic service, as a result, its high cost. To some extent, I associate the new operator Yota with Oleg Tinkov's bank, which is trying to compete with the monsters of the market through various convenient services, finesse and a pretty good basic service. Yota was clearly inspired by the example of this bank and tried to create something similar, but in the field of telecom. However, let's see how it will look.

How the virtual operator Yota works

Both MegaFon and Yota will share the same networks, in fact, voice, SMS, etc. will come from MegaFon, and access to LTE will come from Yota. However, this is not so important, since in the end the same basic service will be comparable. The question remains whether Yota will be able to set priorities for its subscribers on the same network, or whether MegaFon will not be allowed to do this. I bet that there will be attempts to show such amateur performance, but they will be quickly stopped by a blow to the hands.

In the middle of summer, Yota plans to launch itself as a virtual operator in Moscow and the Moscow region, as well as St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region, here it will be possible to connect. Certainly, with these SIM-cards it will be possible to travel all over the country, to go to roaming - the rates, apparently, will be equal to what MegaFon offers for its subscribers.

At the end of 2014, it is planned to gradually expand the geography of the virtual operator, they will first connect those cities where Yota had the maximum number of users as a WiMax operator or a mobile operator before MegaFon bought it.

At the moment, the new federal operator has no formed commercial offers, until mid-summer focus groups will be held in Moscow and St. Petersburg, which should show the profile of service consumption, for example, the volume of traffic. Depending on this, tariff proposals will be formed by the middle of summer, but the approach itself can be called classic from Yota. That is, it is assumed that these will be certain packages, including voice, SMS, traffic.

For the period of the initial launch and testing, the price for Moscow is set at 750 rubles (Petersburg - 590 rubles), this money includes 300 minutes of voice, unlimited SMS, as well as unlimited Internet without any speed limits. In the future, prices will be revised.

This approach has a certain legacy of Yota, which already tried to make a real, unlimited, unlimited, but quickly faced the need to cut off torrents, limit those who download too much, and as a result began to control traffic in the same way as other operators. If this virtual operator becomes popular, its users will face exactly the same approach, they will cut off their traffic. The only question is when and under what circumstances.

For Yota, there is a very thin line between its own sales and profits, as well as the cannibalization of MegaFon's sales. Changes in the MegaFon tariff line are influenced by competitors, and the built-up system must respond instantly. This is much more difficult than simply creating a separate operator that competes only with other market players, regardless of the profit of the parent company. This is the biggest pitfall in this story.

An interesting question is how Yota will try to sell its services - this is a complete rejection of traditional retail, since the latter is quite expensive and the new federal operator does not have a sufficient budget to pay for the sale of each card. As a result, it was decided to sell services cheap and cheerful, in an innovative way - a program from the operator will appear in the application stores, in which you can not only control your SIM card, but you can, while not being a subscriber, pick up a phone number, order it delivery and pay for services.

This is a forced step, since MegaFon's own retail is unable to sell both its own SIM-cards and “competing” ones. Yes, this is stupid, will lead to the very cannibalization that they want to avoid at any cost. In Euroset and Svyaznoy, the approach is pragmatic, operators must pay for each subscriber and connection, the cost of $ 10 and more. For Yota, this is too high a cost. As a result, there are only independent sales on the Yota.ru website, plus such an application.

To attract subscribers, a large federal campaign starts in the summer - you will see Yota advertisements on television, on large billboards along the roads. This will ensure the primary interest in the "new" operator, and then it will be necessary to see how many people want to try it and will be ready to connect. From the experience of the first coming of Yota, I note that the most interesting thing will be to look at the churn of subscribers and the reasons why they will stop using the operator.

First impressions

In this story, there are many unknowns that are incomprehensible, first of all, to those who started this game in the fourth operator. What should be the prices for services in order not to compete with MegaFon? What will be the demand for a virtual operator and what are the marketing costs? Nontraditional sales channels have not been tested at all in the aspect of SIM-cards, how will they show themselves? There are many more questions at the moment than answers.

This is a very beautiful story for MegaFon, when an operator creates an additional brand and is ready to promote its services at its expense. But there is a problem - all over the world, operators are creating virtual operators with cheaper offers than their own. In contrast, MegaFon is creating an operator with an ARPU clearly exceeding that of the company. This is another weak point of this project.

We need to look at what Yota will manage in the end - it is possible that the project will take off and become an example for others. But it is possible that exactly the opposite will happen. None of us can predict this, I repeat, there are too many unknowns and variables.

For our readers, a project with Yota will start in the coming weeks, within which you can get into a focus group and be the first in Russia to receive Yota SIM cards. Stay tuned for more news, we'll tell you how to do it. In this article, a link will appear to a form in which you can leave an application for testing a SIM card from Yota (only in Moscow and the region, as well as St. Petersburg).

What do you think about the fourth federal and virtual operator? Will you try his services? How can he be attractive to you? Write your comments, I assure you that all Yota top managers will carefully study them.

Yota, which until recently developed its networks in the Wi-Max format, has now become the fifth federal operator. You can connect to Yota in most federal regions of our country. Let's take a closer look at the advantages and disadvantages of this operator.

Navigation

What's new on offer from Iota?

I must say right away that Yota's tariffs are fundamentally different from those of other mobile operators. If you want to connect a tariff for mobile Internet, then you will be pleasantly surprised by the full unlimited. Internet traffic is free of charge on all tariffs. The only difference is speed.

Moreover, at the end of the money on the balance, Yota does not block access to the Internet, but makes the speed minimum (up to 64 kbps).

If you choose a tariff for a smartphone, then Yota does not differentiate the traffic speed. On a smartphone, it always remains high. As for the tariffs for tablets, there are three options:

512 Kbps - 390 rubles per month
2.1 Mbps - 550 rubles per month
Maximum speed (in some regions with 4G it reaches 20 Mbps) - 650 rubles per month

Prices are presented for Moscow and the Moscow region. In the regions, they are lower.

Perhaps, with its tariffs for tablet computers, Yota fell in love with all "Internet addicted" people. But, and tariffs for smartphones can cause admiration and envy of competitors.

As mentioned above, all tariffs have high-speed unlimited Internet. In addition, calls within the Yota network are free of charge. And if you want, you can add free SMS (for 50 rubles).

As for the difference in tariffs for smartphones, they consist in the number of free minutes to numbers of other operators in Russia:

300 minutes - 140 rubles
500 minutes - 340 rubles
1000 minutes - 640 rubles
2000 minutes - 1040 rubles
3000 minutes - 1540 rubles

The cost of the selected package is added to the cost of the Internet (300 rubles) and unlimited SMS (if required).

We can say that Yota provides its users with one tariff for smartphones, but which everyone can customize for themselves.

Also, the mobile operator Yota provides tariffs for home Internet (desktop PC, laptop and other devices). Tariffs differ only in speed:

512 Kbps - 400 rubles
640 kbps - 450 rubles
768 Kbps - 500 rubles
896 Kbps - 550 rubles
1 Mbps - 600 rubles
1.3 Mbps - 650 rubles
1.7 Mbps - 700 rubles
2.1 Mbps - 750 rubles
3.1 Mbps - 800 rubles
4.1 Mbps - 850 rubles
5 Mbps - 900 rubles
5.7 Mbit / s - 950 rubles
6.4 Mbit / s - 1000 rubles
7.1 Mbps - 1050 rubles
7.8 Mbps - 1100 rubles
8.5 Mbit / s - 1150 rubles
9.2 Mbps - 1200 rubles
10 Mbps - 1250 rubles
12 Mbps - 1300 rubles
15 Mbps - 1350 rubles
Maximum speed - 900 rubles (Promotion)

Prices are per month. But, you can also use this service:

For 2 hours - 50 rubles (maximum speed)
Per day - 150 rubles (maximum speed)

IMPORTANT: Mobile operator Yota offers high-speed 4G Internet in more than 40 cities of Russia. But, the spread of access to LTE networks does not end there, and over time, the geography of Yota's coverage will only increase.

Benefits of Yota

In addition to excellent prices and flexible tariffs, Yota mobile operator offers roaming-free space throughout Russia. If you left for another region of our country, then the mobile communication and Internet services will be charged as in your home region.

Unfortunately, this benefit is available only for the first thirty days of being in a region other than the Yota connection location. After 30 days, the operator will offer you a different tariff. True, there is no data yet on what the tariff will be.

Disadvantages of Yota

Yota is a virtual operator. That is, one that uses the networks of another operator. In the case of Yota, this “other” operator is Megafon. That is, this operator is completely dependent on Megafon and the state of its networks.

Also, the disadvantages include the inability to use a smartphone with a Yota sim card as an access point for a Wi-Fi network. So much for UNLIMITED Internet. But, you can slightly minimize this drawback by using a router and paying for Wi-Fi Internet services for 2 or 24 hours.

And of course the main disadvantage of this mobile operator is the small coverage area. True, it increases every day. Perhaps Yota has already come to your city?

Mobile operator Yota: reviews

Evgeniy. They have been using this operator for several months. Connected it for both smartphone and tablet. And when I move to the house under construction now, I will also order a router with a Yota SIM card. I really like the quality of the connection and the ability to track the number of minutes left for calls to other operators. The only drawback is the ability to increase the speed of the Internet only after the current tariff expires. Not very comfortable.

Igor. For the summer I leave the city and live there. Naturally, there is no wired Internet there. Before that I used "Megafon", but I found out that they have a subsidiary company Yota, which "covers" my dacha community. I took it for a test, and now I am not parting. I even watch football through my laptop. Thanks Yota!

Video. Yota Review

"Mobile slavery" is abolished, long live freedom of choice! " - with such words, tens of thousands of people ran to telecom stores to switch from one mobile operator to another. SIM cards were shuffled between the “big three” and everything remained in place. Those dissatisfied with Megafon went to MTS or Beeline, as well as those dissatisfied with the latter went over to Megafon's side. And everyone is happy. However, in this turmoil, many did not notice the emergence of a new telecom operator - the Yota company, which began distributing its SIM cards to everyone. One of them was me. How the transition process went and what happened in the end, I will now tell you.

Background

It all started a couple of years ago, when I decided to take a mobile router for myself, which I used on trips. The device has helped out more than once in places where mobile operators could not provide high-quality communication. Now this router is in my dacha and works around the clock, providing unlimited Internet to all connected devices. Having learned at the beginning of the year that Yota decided to enter the cellular market, I decided to find out in more detail what the new operator offers and what benefits I will get if I decide to switch to it.

Everything turned out to be very simple (which cannot be said about the main “players” of the market): you buy as many minutes as you need (from 100 per month) and additionally connect an unlimited SMS package for a symbolic 50 rubles. The Internet is already included in the price and also has no traffic restrictions. One tariff without many options and incomprehensible write-offs - that was exactly what I needed. “Jumping” every few months from tariff to tariff in search of a more profitable and convenient offer, and even connecting some options, the description of which is even more confusing than the name, is simply tired. And how infuriated me messages like “You are approaching the threshold of shutdown, tk. spent all the traffic, now we will disconnect everything for you. Do you want to renew? Send SMS to the number, wait for confirmation, send a new one ... ”. Therefore, two main factors “for” the transition were fulfilled: simple tariff, unlimited Internet.

Before connecting

Naturally, since all the laws have been adopted and I can leave my “precious” number for myself, I began to find out what I need to move. I already mentally imagined that paperwork, data reconciliation and other “service”, so familiar to a Russian person, awaits me. Our colleague, Sergey Suyagin, has already written on the pages of Lifehacker about this, and his material somewhat worried me. I didn’t want to conduct conversations for 20 minutes at the point of sale with consultants, who often did not understand the subject of the conversation. However, in reality, everything turned out much easier.

To connect to Yota, it was necessary to download a special application for iOS, read about the advantages of connecting and ... wait for a notification about when it would be possible to pick up your new SIM card. And this was, perhaps, the most unpleasant moment in the whole history - “Simka” had to wait about a month. Unfortunately, the exact date was not mentioned anywhere, so I had to be patient. Now, I think that the waiting time has decreased, since I, apparently, was in the first wave of dealing cards.

And so, on the cherished day, a notification appeared on the display of my iPhone that I can pick up my SIM card. The newly opened application acquired new functions, where I was shown the points of issue of cards and even asked to plot a route to the nearest one, where I went.
It is worth saying that the SIM card could be ordered with courier delivery, but I decided to play it safe and go personally, since there were several points of issue.

Connect / Transition

After reaching the nearest point of issue and informing the consultants about my choice, I was asked to name a certain confirmation code - a unique identifier that is displayed in the application after the notification that the card can be taken. Calling him and giving my passport, I announced my intention to leave my phone number. They printed out the transfer papers and gave me a package with a SIM card, having previously warned that the transfer would take 8 days and during this period the balance on the number should remain positive. Having paid 500 rubles, which will go to the balance sheet (no additional hundred rubles), I said goodbye and went home. The whole procedure took about five minutes.

Expectation

Throughout the entire period, as it was described in Sergey's article, notifications came to my number about when I could start using the new SIM card (and on the same day my practically former operator turned off the Internet for me), but for now she lay on the table. And then you probably asked the question: what kind of format is the SIM card issued and will it be necessary to cut it? Nothing supernatural is required from you. The package contains one card, but depending on the phone model, you take out the size you need - all the parts are fastened together, so if you need an ordinary nano-SIM, take out the smallest piece, if micro - then medium and if mini - then the whole card fully. The photo below shows that all three parts are fastened together, and you just need to “squeeze out” a piece of the desired size.

Usage

Eight days have passed. Exactly at midnight on the ninth day, the old SIM card notified me that “No network”. It's time to insert a new SIM card, which I immediately did. Initially, even the only tariff that exists for Yota is not connected to the card, you control all the communication parameters you need yourself (except for the Internet, it is immediately included and you pay a fixed amount for it). In order to start using the SIM card, you need to launch the application and select the package of minutes and SMS that suits you, if necessary. Once this is done, you can start using it.

I really like this approach. Everything you need can be controlled by yourself, and for this you do not need to send various SMS to any number to connect services, everything is done through the application. Routers from Yota are managed in a similar way: you put a certain amount on the balance and connect the required speed, which can be changed during the period. That is, you pay not for traffic, but for the connection speed.

Application

Now about one of the most important - about the application. There is nothing complicated in it, just the necessary: the start screen meets us with information about the remaining minutes and connected SMS, information about the balance and the menu of connection conditions. At any time you can open it and find out about your expenses, and for this, again, you don’t need to send anything or call anything - all the information is in front of your eyes. If you suddenly realize that you do not fit into the limit of minutes, you can buy them directly in the application, as well as replenish the balance - for these operations you do not need to look for a terminal or use inconvenient web versions of operators' personal accounts, everything is done in a couple of taps on the smartphone display. And since the Internet is unlimited, it is quite difficult to remain without communication. Unfortunately, the application has not yet been optimized for iOS 8 - hence, apparently, the interface slows down and crashes when trying to specify a package of minutes. But, I think, by the time of the official release of Apple's operating system, this issue will be resolved.

In the same application, you can contact the support service via chat, which is also convenient. One click on the button and you will be connected with a specialist who will help with your question.

Support

And in this paragraph, they usually write about how bad the support service is. Yes, I myself have said and written about this more than once, without even taking into account the telecom operators. As a rule, clients are dissatisfied with the level of services provided, as well as the fact that, due to their inattention or lack of understanding of the subject of the problem, they blame consultants and other service workers for everything. To some extent, both are right, on both sides there are incompetent or unwilling to help / explain people. And one of the most important problems is insufficient attention to the client and the waiting time in solving his question / problem.

I contacted Yota support many times for various reasons, not only when changing a SIM card and operator. A couple of months ago, I started having constant problems connecting the router to the LTE network, which I told the support service about. They took my application for processing, they said that the base station was overloaded, and they promised not only to unload it, but also to deal with the hardware (perhaps it was a replacement of equipment or an upgrade of the existing one). Naturally, it was immediately clear that this would take a long time. However, after about four weeks, I received a letter in the mail notifying me that the problems had been fixed, along with a proposal to evaluate the quality of the connection: “Everything is fine” and “No, it still works poorly”. It is clear that the phrase “Your opinion is very important to us” is mostly a standard excuse, but in this case I chose the first option, since the connection became more stable a week before the notification.

With the receipt of a new SIM card, I also encountered problems, which I mentioned just above: the application crashed every time I tried to select the packages of minutes and SMS that were suitable for me. After describing the problem in the chat, which is also available on the company's website, they helped me within 10 minutes by connecting the packages that interested me. I didn't really count on this approach, but expected to read something like "This OS is not yet supported by the application, so use the current version or wait for optimization for the new one." Agree, not everyone is the first to install beta versions of a mobile operating system, so I would take this answer quite adequately. But, to my happiness, the problem was solved without rolling back to stable iOS 7. It should be noted that the operator's waiting time does not exceed the norm - of all my calls, I had to wait for an answer more than five minutes only once.

Connection quality

While I was going through with a new SIM card for only a week, so it is difficult to objectively assess the quality in full, but I constantly take speed measurements and their performance makes me happy: the download speed several times was about 8 Mbit / s (of course, it also depends on your location), but has not yet dropped below 3 Mbps. The 3 Mbps figure was the maximum for my previous operator, so the quality improvements are immediately visible. As you can imagine, we are of course talking about 3G networks, since I have an iPhone 5 at my disposal, which does not work in our LTE frequencies. But with LTE, I think there will be no problems either, but we will check this only after the release of the iPhone 6.
As for voice calls, everything is quite clear here: Yota uses its towers to provide the Internet, and Megafon stations - for voice calls. Nevertheless, the connection for all three main operators seems to be more or less the same, so at this point - no revelations. In places where Megafon does not catch, Yota will not work either.

Minuses

Of course, there are disadvantages everywhere, even in Yota. There are two of them: when using a smartphone in modem mode, the speed is limited to 64 Kbps, and when downloading torrents - 32. And if the second limitation is quite reasonable, then the first one is not very pleasant to me. In those moments when there was no Wi-Fi connection, the iPhone always came to the rescue, with which it was possible to access the network without any problems. Now it is very inconvenient due to the low speed. I perfectly understand why this is done, but I hope that the company will nevertheless revise its restrictions and raise the speed at least twice.

What's the bottom line?

In the end, I got what I wanted: no sophisticated tariff plans, hundreds of options and constant traffic restrictions. I don't have a lot of phone calls, so 100 minutes a month should be enough, and if the Internet speed does not drop below 3 Mbps, it will finally be possible to use FaceTime for conversations. After all, the sound quality is much better there than over the cellular network. And on long trips across Russia - it will help out a lot by the lack of roaming within the country. In any case, Yota for me is, first of all, the Internet, moreover, unlimited, and so far none of the operators can offer it.

This review has been prepared based on the use of a SIM card in St. Petersburg. Prices and call quality may vary depending on the region.

Would you like to change the operator or have you already done so? Share your experience in the comments!

The Yota company appeared back in 2007. But the cellular operator gained real popularity only after 7 years, having started selling SIM-cards in Russia. It was then that many had a question, what kind of dark horse is this, who owns Yota?

History of the owners of the company

Initially, the owner of the brand was Skartel LLC. In 2012, the owner of Yota announced that a merger of the company's assets with OJSC MegaFon would take place. Then the Garsdale holding corporation was created.
Upon the sale of Yota, the owner lost the rights to a controlling stake. The assets of the new holding were divided between three companies. AF Telecom received 82% of the shares, the rest of the shares were owned by Telconet Capital and Russian Technologies State Corporation.

The unification had several goals:

acceleration of the process of mastering new communication technologies in the country;
providing high-quality communication to all residents of Russia;
integration and obtaining new solutions in the field of telecommunication services;
reduction of costs during the construction of the LTE network;
taking a leading position in the world market.

Present day

In September 2015, MegaFon was the sole owner of all Yota assets.
The corporation is successfully developing, in July this year, sales of SIM-cards started in 52 regions of the country. For customers, the company offers unlimited tariff plans with an affordable cost, high connection speed and a large coverage area in Russia.

Yota was not only the first in the world to launch the latest LTE-Advanced mobile connection, but also allowed subscribers to communicate for free, pay for long distance calls in the same way as if a person is in the home region.

Mobile operators

Mobile operator Yota is currently a subsidiary of one of the Big Four members, which owns 100% of its shares. In addition, it is considered virtual, since it does not have its own equipment, but provides services using the networks of the parent company.

And yet, despite from time to time rumors about the upcoming liquidation of the brand, Yota is still an independent company living on its own revenues. The Russian Federation is the main region in which this provider operates. At various times, there were attempts to enter foreign markets, including such an exotic one as Nicaragua, but by now the company's ambitions have seriously contracted.

The set of services provided by Yota, comes down to two main areas:

GSM telephone communication.
Mobile Internet in 2G / 3G / 4G networks.

At the time of this writing, the main company is Vladimir Dobrynin, who had previously changed jobs in two large operators - MegaFon and VimpelCom.

History

The founders of the company, which bore the name of Scartel LLC, are Russian entrepreneurs Sergei Adonyev and Denis Sverdlov, who became its first head. The latter is a co-owner of KORUS Consulting and for some time held the position of Deputy Minister of Telecom and Mass Communications.

The goal for which everything was started was the creation in the Russian Federation of a network operating in the progressive at that time WiMAX standard. The decision was made in 2006, but the provision of services began only two years later.

In the same 2008, sales of the corresponding equipment supporting this communication standard began: Express-cards, the HTC MAX 4G phone, and then, a year later, a laptop.

The Yota brand appeared in 2007. According to rumors, this name was born as a result of SMS-correspondence between the founders of the company. At that time, no one even thought about providing voice services - it was only about creating a high-speed Internet network.

It should be said that Yota was not all right with the connection quality. Despite the fact that, according to the specifications of the WiMAX standard, a speed of 100 Mbit / s is normal for this standard, in practice 20 Mbit / s was considered the norm, and in some regions this figure was completely miserable - 8-9 Mbit / s.

Therefore, the transition to the LTE standard in 2010 became an important milestone in development. This did not pose any particular problems, since the frequencies used coincided with WiMAX. But with the equipment for customers it immediately became easier: now it was enough to install the appropriate SIM card in one of the widespread models of gadgets.

However, it was not possible to achieve widespread coverage in the regions of the country: even the opening of the network in Kazan faced administrative problems and was postponed for several months. But the company did not give up: in 2011, it entered into an agreement with the Big Three operators on the development of 4G networks in Russia.

In the same year, an attempt was made to enter the Belarusian market, in which, however, it was not possible to hold out for even a year - in the summer of 2012, the provision of services was curtailed.

The financial performance did not please the management of the company, and in 2012 a deal was made with the operator MegaFon, which at that time showed an active interest in the development of fourth-generation networks. As a result of the reorganization, Skartel LLC, which owned the Yota brand, became a subsidiary of MegaFon, and in 2013 a representative of the Big Three became the owner of 100% of the shares.

However, for a number of reasons, a complete absorption did not take place. Moreover, the 4G networks of MegaFon and Yota were not merged, which in practice causes some inconvenience to the users of the latter, since they cannot use communication services in regions for which the operator does not have the appropriate permissions.

But in the spring of 2014, the launch of a new federal cellular operator was announced, which took place a little later - in August of the same year. The company used MegaFon equipment, and it was by no means free of charge, which had a rather negative effect on the attractiveness of tariffs.

At the same time, the head of Yota was replaced - now Anatoly Smorgonsky, who replaced the retired Denis Sverdlov, became him. By that time, he had managed to work in VimpelCom, Russia, and, however, could not resist for a long time in his place - already in 2015 he left his post and he lost the chair of the head of the company to Mikhail Dubinin.

A little later, a gradual change in tariff policy begins. So, at the beginning of 2017, the connection of new users to tariffs with unlimited Internet traffic was terminated. Instead, a new package line was launched, in which the number of gigabytes was already limited.

Six months later, subscribers received a unique opportunity to "design" their tariffs, independently determining the volume of certain services in accordance with their own needs. And at the beginning of 2018, the opportunity was opened to connect packages without conversational clicks, which turned out to be convenient for those who only needed the Internet.

Separately, it should be said about the company Yota Devices, known to us for the line of smartphones YotaPhone. In June 2011, the Yota division, engaged in the development of devices for mobile communications, was spun off into a separate company. Over time, it has developed into one of the largest suppliers of equipment for 4G networks in Russia, known for its modems and routers.

Even before the separation, Denis Sverdlov, who headed Yota at that time, announced plans to create a domestic 4G smartphone, work on which continued until 2013, when the first YotaPhone entered the market.

Unfortunately, the ambitious project ended in failure: the number of sold copies of the first generation barely exceeded 30 thousand, the second - a little more than 150 thousand, and the third never made it to the Russian market, despite the announcement that took place in August 2017: in addition For a considerable part of time, Yota Devices was controlled by the Hong Kong investment holding REX Global Entertainment and the novelty was reoriented to the Chinese market.

As it turned out, $ 50 million in investments and healthy entrepreneurial impudence were not enough to repeat the success of or in Russian reality.

Today is

As of today, there is no official information on the size of Yota's subscriber base. In 2015, it was about 1 million users in 52 Russian regions. According to indirect data of one of the operators of the "Big Four", 2.5 million Yota subscribers called up with its subscribers.

How much does this represent of the entire Russian mobile communications market? Quite a bit: in 2017, the number of users exceeded 250 million people.

Considering that the subscriber base of the “weakest” member of the “Big Four”, Tele2, at this time amounted to 40.6 million, it becomes clear that the provider has no particular prospects: in the ratings it falls into the unenviable category “Other”.

But not far off - the emergence of 5G mobile Internet, which will make 4G Yota networks less relevant and, accordingly, will reduce the level of the company's income.