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February 2021 www.intellinews.com I Page 4
According to earlier reports, the Russian government was willing to bankroll the installation of telecom equipment for "autonomous internet," spending about RUB20bn ($264mn).
The execution of the sovereign internet plans would lead to a situation when popular global services would not be available in Russia, experts warn.
"All content hosted outside the Russian Federation, most likely, won't be available here," Sergei Grebennikov, director of the Regional public centre for internet technologies, told
Russia's Sberbank makes a move in e-commerce with Goods.ru deal
Russia's largest bank Sberbank has made an important addition to its digital ecosystem Sber by signing a memorandum of intent on the joint development of marketplace Goods.ru, controlled by major electronics retailer M.Video-Eldorado.
As reported by bne IntelliNews, unconfirmed reports previously suggested that Sberbank was considering a partnership with M.Video-Eldorado online platform Goods.ru or possibly with M.Video itself. The bank was also said to be eyeing the country's second-largest online electronics retailer, Citilink.
Prior to reported negotiations with M.Video and Citilink, Sberbank's joint venture with Yandex. Market with Yandex internet major ended up in a bitter divorce. Sberbank's bid for Ozon, the e-commerce player, also fell through, and Ozon made a successful $1.2bn IPO instead.
Now, with M.Video's Goods.ru, a binding agreement could be signed in 1H21 post the
Kommersant. "Even though we are told that Google, Facebook or Yandex host content on the territory of the Russian Federation, if Russia is cut off the global internet, we won't be able to properly use many services."
Meanwhile, there's a precedent of Russian authorities' miserable failure to ban the messaging service Telegram. For two years, Roskomnadzor tried to block the use of the app in Russia until last year the agency admitted it didn't have the tech capability to do so.
comprehensive audit and all regulatory approvals.
"Acquisition of marketplace Goods.ru adds also electronics segment to Sber’s e-commerce with 85% ownership, implying RUB35bn investment, or 0.7% of equity. Looks neutral at this stage," BCS Global Markets commented on January 28, while affirming a Buy call on Sberbank shares.
Goods.ru is set to become “Sber’s key multi- category e-commerce venue,” in synergy with such other Sber assets as SberLogistics, SberMarket, Sber Eapteka and Samokat, reports East-West Digital News (EWDN).
Goods.ru currently offers 18 main categories
with 2.5mn products, says Sber. But this young marketplace – launched less than three years ago – is not a heavyweight in Russia’s online retail space. In 2019, it ranked only 26th among the country’s e-commerce sites, according to Data Insight, with sales reaching RUB8.7bn rubles ($135mn at that time’s exchange rate).