Russian Communications investment to rise, Post Office stays in state hands

There are no plans for privatizing Russia’s postal service in the near future, Minister of Communications and Information Technology Leonid Reyman has told Prime-TASS in an interview.

Reyman, who is attending a Russian economic forum, said the postal service would be reformed into a 100-per-cent government-owned company.

This year’s investments in Russia’s telecommunications will reach 3bn dollars, against 2.2bn dollars a year ago, he said.

The number of cellular phone users will grow from 7.5m to 13m by the end of the year, and that of permanent Internet users, to 8m from 4.3m last year. The computerization rate will be 7.5 PCs per 100 Russians, Reyman said.