Virgin Connect stays in Russia and launches $9.3m IT project in Nizhny Novgorod

Last week Trivon AG, the Switzerland-based company that does business in Russia through its subsidiaries under the Virgin Connect brand, confirmed its Russia commitment and announced a $9.3m Internet project to be run by its new Nizhny Novgorod regional headquarters. 

According to Istvan Kovacs, the CEO of Trivon Networks in Russia, the company intends to build communications lines to support broadband Internet access by all the district centers of the Nizhny Novgorod region. In addition, regional companies may expect to get "reliable data transmission channels,” and in excess of 100,000 new households in the region will be connected, Mr. Kovacs said. 

The project is expected to take 18 months to complete, he added. 

Trivon AG owns 100% of MegaMax, one of the leading B2B broadband and telecom operators in the Nizhny Novgorod region. East-West Digital News, the first all English-language online resource dedicated to Russian digital industries, reported the acquisition last November after the deal was formally announced. 

The MegaMax Group has developed its own extensive fiber optic network and portfolio of high quality business services in the region. It was founded by a prominent local high tech figure, Eduard Fiyaksel, who is also an angel investor and executive at the local branch of the Higher School of Economics. 

"This project is the most successful of my venture investments,” Mr. Fiyaksel said a year ago.