Селитренное городище

INTERNET SERVICES SALES IN RUSSIA AMOUNTED TO $220 IN 2003

The sales of the Internet services totaled $220 million in 2003, an increase on year ago, according to Leonid Reiman, acting head of the Russian Ministry of Communications.
He was speaking at the Ministry?s final board meeting.

Reiman drew attention to a growing interest for the Russian Internet resources displayed by end-users. The Internet is used not only by residents of the large cities, it?s spreading all over Russia, said he. According to Reiman, the amounts of electronic sales are growing. They totaled $150-200 million in 2003, a 30 percent increase on year ago.

?I have the pleasure of pointing out that information technologies in Russia are developing faster than the analog ones inside the country and IT in foreign countries,? said Reiman. However, ?the market structure looks immature despite the positive developments,? he was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti News Agency.

The provision of services is a mere quarter of the market. The software sales sector is growing 3 times faster than the hardware sales sector, according to Reiman. In the meantime, the demand for IT is on the increase in all sectors of the national economy, said he. ?Though the majority of orders are still for accounting programs, we expect a 25 percent increase in orders for the development of corporate governance systems over the next few years,? said acting Minister of Communications.