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May 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 7
GLONASS-TM's IoT network will be made up of 34,000 base stations to be erected across Russia over the next four years. A local technology for low-power wide-area networks (LPWAN), called XNB protocol, will be used.
It was developed by a company called Contemporary Radio Technologies (CRT), also co-owned by Igor Rotenberg.
CRT claims that XNB, unlike NB-IoT and LoRa, the world's best known LPWAN-protocols, has a longer data transmission range and better penetrating capability for concrete walls. In addition, the use of the homemade encryption algorithm Kuznechik is supposed to make the system more secure, according to CRT, which is in line with the Russian government's drive to use as much local equipment in technology.
"It is important to use a Russia-originated protocol, technologies and equipment in a critical infrastructure," Denis Simakin, general director of GLONASS-TM, was quoted as saying by RBC. "Our solutions are suitable for areas where information is a strategic resource access to which by third parties cannot be tolerated."
Russian online retailers fight for higher duties on imported parcels
Russian online retailers represented by the Association of Internet Trade Companies (AKIT) are lobbing for an amendment to the current import duties for foreign parcels from
a differentiated duty scale depending on the value of the package to a flat fee of 15%-20%.
He added, though, that the network could be compatible with various kinds of equipment, including that manufactured abroad.
The value of Russia's IoT business was thought to be worth RUB235bn ($3.67bn) in 2018, according to IDC but the national programme Digital Economy is expected to give it a boost and the value could double to RUB490bn ($7.5bn) by 2023.
Meanwhile, the project implemented by
a company with close ties to the government could create a monopoly in the segment, hampering the development of alternative IoT projects, say critics.
For instance, major mobile phone operator Megafon, which is also developing an IoT network, based on NB-IoT protocol, has expressed concerns that the government might make GLONASS-TM's protocol mandatory in Russia, although it has weaknesses in comparison with NB-IoT, which has already proven its reliability and efficiency
in various environments. Focusing on the XNB protocol would lead to Russia's tech isolation from the rest of the world, Megafon warns.
The move would strengthen the positions of local online retailers amid foreign competition on a largely foreign-dominated e-commerce market, as it would significantly increase the duty for even small and cheap online purchases from abroad. AKIT also reminds that foreign retailers have