Enforta Expands Russian WiMAX Coverage

Russia based Enforta has announced that it will be expanding its operating footprint to 65 of Russia's largest cities by the end of 2008. The company now provides high speed Internet, telephony, and VPN services in 25 of Russia's regional capital cities using WiMAX and other technologies.

The announcement of its expansion follows Enforta's completion of an additional US$40 million investment from its existing shareholder group and a new investor, Bessemer Venture Partners. "This is Bessemer's first direct investment in Russia, and we are pleased to have them join in both Russia's and Enforta's growth," said Lee Sparkman, Enforta's President.

"The WiMAX business proposition takes on a whole new dimension when used to provide basic infrastructure in emerging economies," said Ron Elwell, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners who joins the Enforta Board of Directors. "We find Enforta one of the most interesting WiMAX opportunities in the world." Also participating in the investment were Enforta's existing investors: Baring Vostok Capital Partners, Sumitomo Corporation, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

The first eight of Enforta's new cities, expected to be commissioned in the first quarter of the year, include: Izhevsk, Nizhny Novogorod, Volgograd, Lipetsk, Tomsk, Komsomolsk-na-Amur, Nakhodka, and Ussuriysk. "By year's end, Enforta will serve communities with an aggregate population of 55 million people," said Victor Ratnikov, Enforta's General Director. "It is still early in the development of the Russian wireless broadband market, but Enforta plans to be amongst the leaders."

Posted to the site on 16th January 2008