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November 2020 www.intellinews.com I Page 18
Russia's MTS mobile major to invest in own video content
Russian mobile major MTS (Mobile TeleSystems) will start investing in feature film production, though its subsidiary MTS Media ready to finance up to 50% for eight to ten confirmed features
a year, Kommersant daily reported.
MTS would become the fourth fund after the state Ministry of Culture, the Cinema Fund, and KinoPrime fund of billionaire Roman Abramovich to make direct investments in feature film production.
Previously MTS Media said it would set up
a joint venture with the state-controlled First TV Channel, in order to enhance its own video content production.
In the meantime, another Russian mobile major MegaFon said it would buy 33.8% in Digital Media Holding that operates the online cinema Start. Veon (former VimpelCom) is considering the acquisition of 100% stake in online cinema Megogo for RUB9bn ($129mn).
bne IntelliNews reported that Russian video streaming platforms are gaining speed and saw a jump in subscriptions and spending on paid content amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdowns.
Estonian firm wins Nato tender to build cyber training ground in Luxembourg Estonian cyber security firm CybExer Technologies is moving forward with building a cyber security training site in Luxembourg after securing a contract from Nato, having won a tender launched by the Nato Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA).
The tender was organised for the acquisition of
a cyber training ground and training to strengthen the skills of current and future cyber personnel
of the Luxembourg Ministry of Defence and to develop the country's cyber defence capabilities.
CybExer Technologies is an Estonian cyber security company and has experience in creating high-level cyber security training platforms. CybExer offers
a variety of cyber security training and exercises aimed at ordinary computer users, technical experts, and strategic management leaders.
Andrus Kivisaar, chairman of the management board of CybExer Technologies, said that there was very strong international competition in the procurement and winning it is the result of CybExer's many years of efforts.
Russian fintech service Sravni.ru plans IPO
by 2025
Russian fintech online service Sravni.ru could hold an IPO in the next five years, the head of the company, Sergei Leonidov, told Forbes, without specifying the parameters of the deal or the valuation.
Sravni.ru proposes to compare products and conditions of banks and insurance companies, such as loans, mortgages, insurance policies and others. In October 2020 the service had 6.2mn visitors. In 2019 the company made RUB1.28bn ($16.8mn) in revenues and RUB9mn in profit.
According to Leonidov, the top line of the service jumped 25-fold in the last five years. The service was founded in 2009 by Albert Popkov. In 2014 the company raised funding from Tinkoff Digital. In 2020 Baring Vostok fund and Goldman Sachs increased their stakes, buying out Tinkoff, for an undisclosed amount.
Mobile phone penetration in Montenegro at 175.4% at end-September
Montenegro's mobile phone penetration rate plunged by 33.5pp year on year to 175.4%
at end-September, according to data from telecommunications agency EKIP.
The total number of subscribers fell by 15.5% y/y to around 1.09mn at end-September, and was almost unchanged from a month earlier.