bne_Tech_05_2019

Contents
bne:Tech
May 2019 www.intellinews.com @bneintellinews
CEE Fintech Atlas: Old narratives are changing, innovations may flow now from East to West
Gunter Deuber of Raiffeisen Research in Vienna
After nearly three decades since the end of the socialist experiment many countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have made enormous progress, but they are still catching up to
their western peers. But not in fintech, which has been
CEE Fintech Atlas: Old narratives are changing, innovations may flow now from East to West 2 Russia moves towards 5G 5 IoT network to be set up in Russia 6 Russian online retailers fight for
higher duties on imported parcels 7 Wildberries leads the top 50 Russian e-commerce online stores ranked
by revenues in 2018 9
Leaders 10
Facebook and Twitter given nine more months to comply with Russian data-localisation law 11 Net profit of Russian internet major Mail.ru drops 47% in 1Q19 12 One year after ban, Telegram still accessible from Russia with growing audience 12 Russia’s Sberbank reportedly eyes
media major Rambler, registers Sber trademark 13
Investment 15
Armenia’s censor-defeating secure messaging app Pinngle announces $12mn of funding 15 MTS launches corporate fund to invest $15mn in startups 15 Russian driver booking service
Wheely raises $15mn 16 Russian HeadHunter makes first
NASDAQ IPO since 2013 17 Russian Ozon e-commerce major
raises another loan for expansion 18
Fintech & E-commerce 19
Russia’s steel major Severstal to boost online sales 19 Russia’s Yandex said to plan cashback card with Alfa and Tinkoff banks 19 Russian retailer O’key reportedly eyed
by Yandex.Market online marketplace 20
Telecom 21
Romania’s consumer protection body
tells Vodafone to cancel price hikes 21 O2 telecoms operator in Czech Republic records Q1 profit of CZK1.24bn 21 Russia's mobile phone VEON
operator delivers sold earnings
in 1Q19, reiterates guidance 22 T-Mobile in Czech Republic saw
growth of CZK6.7bn in 1Q19 22 Turkish mobile operator Turkcell’s
profit soars 145% y/y in Q1 boosted
by unit sale 23
NIBs 24
See page 2
Russia moves towards 5G
Russia has made another step towards launching the
fifth generation of cellular mobile communications (5G),
as state-controlled telecoms operator Rostelecom transferred companies that tested the relevant technology to its subsidiary, Bashinformsvyaz.
See page 5