UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 14, 2017. The telecommunications provider MegaFon now offers 4G network options in nineteen Sverdlovsk Region-based towns, the company press service reports. The 4G network is now available in 90% of territories of Alapayevsk, Artemovskiy, Ivdel, Kamyshlov, Karpinsk, Kachkanar, Krasnoturyinsk, Kransnouralsk, Krasnoufimsk, Kushva, Nevyansk, Nizhnyaya Salda, Nizhnyaya Tura, Novaya Lyalya, Severouralsk, Tarda, Turinsk, Verkhniy Tagil and Volchansk. There are currently over sixty base LTE stations in the area altogether. The network makes it possible to use the Internet

UrBC, Moscow, June 14, 2017. Customers based in Ural Federal District spent 433 RUR per supermarket trip on average in May 2017, which was 3.1% less than one month earlier, Romir Holding reports. According to Romir's findings, the average supermarket receipt amount kept declining by 2 to 3 RUR every month throughout the country since the start of the year. The trend grew even more pronounced in May, with the average spending figure down by as much as 12 RUR against April (512 RUR, down 2.3% on April 2017 and up 5% on May 2016, when the amount stood at 497 RUR). The average supermarket

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 13, 2017. Sverdlovsk Region Government will allocate 17bn RUR to the constituency’s road-building fund this year, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports. For one, extra finances will be directed to construction, reconstruction, and repair of local roads in Nizhniy Tagil (360m RUR), Pervouralsk (over 57m RUR), Krasnoufimsk (38m RUR), Asbest (over 35m RUR), Artemovsky (close to 31m RUR), Polevskoy (20m RUR), Novaya Lyalya (15m RUR), and Tugulym (over 13m RUR). Another 490m RUR will be given to Nizhniy Tagil to put up a new road network in

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 13, 2017. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) purchased 2,213,4017 BO 05 bonds at 100% of their face value on a buy-back offer on June 8, the bank’s press service reports. The bondholders also received their accumulated coupon yield; the bank now holds 99% of the entire issue. The buy-back offer was initiated in order to cut down on the cost of administering the bank’s liabilities. The BO 05 Series is currently the bank’s only bond issue still in circulation, and no new issues are expected to come out any time soon. ‘Given the Central Bank’s

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 13, 2017. Sinara Group’s and Siemens’s joint venture Ural Locomotives underwent an audit meant to check the plant’s business management system’s compliance with the IRIS 2.1 (International Railway Industry Standard), Sinara Group’s PR Center reports. ‘The plant has been introducing some elements of the IRIS standard since 2011 and was first certified for compliance in 2013. We’ve had audits on a yearly basis since then. According to Quality Austria, an independent expert body, the plant proved very efficient this year, with an improved level of business management

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 13, 2017. According to telecom analysts, Urals-based Russians tend to watch movies online now that they are in the countryside in the summertime. MegaFon Ural’s Internet traffic registered outside of big cities rose by 25% last month, the company’s press service reports. ‘According to Deloitte findings, Russians’ TV viewing is now down eight minutes on average, while smartphone-based Internet surfing is up eighteen minutes a day. The national Internet audience increased by 1.72m people last year alone,’ the press service says. It is explained that MegaFon.TV serves

UrBC, Moscow, June 13, 2017. Russians based in Ural Federal District spent 11.9% less money last year compared with one year previously, Romir reports. In monthly terms, the decrease amounted to 9.2%. According to Romir, Russians’ overall daily spending went up a bit in May 2017 as usual (+1.3% on April 2017), which is three times more than the official inflation rate of 0.4%. The decrease in the average amount people spent per supermarket trip this May could have to do with the fact that they go shopping more often or, more likely, that they go to more different locations to shop. Most of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 9, 2017. Sverdlovsk Region’s Finance Ministry came up with the first draft of the constituency’s next year’s budget, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports. ‘The latest amendments to the Sverdlovsk Region Budget 2018 Act that cover for 8.9bn RUR in subsidies to social welfare projects and municipal programs were adopted at Sverdlovsk Region Government meeting on June 8; the meeting was chaired by Governor Evgeny Kuivashev,’ the Department says. Budget revenues are expected to go up 8.9bn RUR so as to reach 204bn RUR altogether. Mostly,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 9, 2017. KORTROS President Veniamin Golubitsky supported Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev’s proposal to make Yekaterinburg’s Akademicheskiy District a separate town, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports. The Governor put forth the proposal at the end of May. ‘The place already has a multi-layered infrastructure network and will keep on growing further. For one, there is going to be a new tram link connecting the district to Yekaterinburg’s Yugo-Zapadny District, which will make the growing Akademicheskiy much more easily

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 9, 2017. Albert Yamaliyev’s team at Alardinskaya Mine’s Section 1 has produced 1,000,000,000 kg of coal since the start of the year, EVRAZ Holding Siberia’s Corporate Relations Center reports. Alardinskaya’s miners are EVRAZ Raspadskaya Coal Company’s second team to reach the important output figure this year. Vassily Pasichinsky’s team from Raspadskaya Mine was the first one to set this year’s production record. ‘As is our custom, the company’s top managers congratulated the miners on the ground. A symbolic piece of coal with an inscription ‘1,000,000,000’ on it was

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 9, 2017. Rosset’s Federal Grid Company United Energy Systems (FGC UES) completed its scheduled repairs of Chelyabinskaya-Kostanayskaya 500-kilowatt electric main, the company press service reports. The repairs ensured a more reliable electric power exchange between Russia and Kazakhstan. ‘The main got 120 new overhead ground-wire cable supports and new vibration absorbers. We also repaired the overhead ground-wire cables and cleared the area off obstructing trees and bushes (10.6 hectares all in all). The 131-kilometer-long section of Chelyabinskaya-Kostanayskaya

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 9, 2017. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) started issuing the national payment system Mir cards on March 1, 2917, with over 28,000 cardholders by now, the bank’s press service reports. The UBRD was thus among the top three Mir card issuers in April 2017. According to the bank’s Banking Services Sales Director Sergei Zinoviev, some 120,000 Mir cards will have been issued for the bank’s existing customers/civil sector workers’ salary accounts by the end of the year. ‘Our new customers employed at the state-run enterprises will also get Mir

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 8, 2017. ChTPZ Group is opening Leadership Program in coordination with National University of Science and Technology (MISiS), the company press service reports. ‘This is a Master’s program in combination with internships at ChTPZ Group’s enterprises and work on innovative projects. Following a selection procedure, twenty candidates in the under-30 age group, with Bachelor’s degrees from Russian colleges will get enrolled on two programs: Rolling Technologies and Solid and Hollow Goods Innovative Technologies & Equipment. The students will have two years to learn

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 8, 2017. ChTPZ Group is going to deliver a set of weldless, stainless steel pipes for Belenergomash, the company press service reports. The pipes are meant for pipelines servicing power-generating units 3 and 4 of Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant in India. The pipes are expected to get shipped in the third quarter of the year. Under the terms of the contract, the Group is to supply the customer with 80,000 kg of pipes (diameter: 325 to 426 mm; layer thickness: 12 to 16 mm) made from corrosion-resistant steel and with enhanced surface quality. By customer’s order, all

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 8, 2017. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) now offers small and medium enterprises leasing options within its loan offers package, the bank’s press service reports. ‘Leasing is no longer an exotic financing option for small and medium enterprises. Our businesses have come to realize that its simplicity, affordability, and efficiency allow them to keep their facilities well equipment in compliance with the market demands. The repayments can be very flexible, and companies can also save money through tax reliefs,’ the press service says.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 8, 2017. The average asking price currently comes to 66,357 RUR per m2 on Yekaterinburg existing home market, which is 0.6% less than four weeks earlier and 13.5% less than in February 2015, Ural Real Estate Chamber’s analytical report states. Prices declined most noticeably in the city’s fourth priciest districts, with the average asking price at 55,608 RUR per m2 (-0.9% on four weeks perviously). Centrally located apartments grew 0.8% less expensive, down to 93,663 RUR per m2, and those in Yekaterinburg’s second and third priciest locations grew 0.4% and 0.5%

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 8, 2017. Sverdlovsk Region’s retail trade turnover amounted to 335.2bn RUR on January-April 2017, which was 4.5% less than one year earlier, in comparable prices, Sverdlovskstat reports. Also, the Mid-Urals’ catering industry’s turnover reached 15.7bn RUR, which was 10.3% below January-April 2016, in comparable prices.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 7, 2017. Sverdlovsk Region Legislative Assembly deputies adopted a report on the implementation of the constituency’s budget for the year 2016, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports. Governor Kuivashev called for a more efficient use of budget funds and brining the budget deficit down. ‘Last year’s budget had to be utilized under unstable economic circumstances and hardly predictable external factors at play. Still, we managed to keep it balanced and to meet all of last year’s obligations such as social welfare payments and investments

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 7, 2017. Ural Airlines are introducing additional flights from Yekaterinburg to Sochi and Simferopol and back, the air carrier’s press service reports. Flight U6 527/528 (Yekaterinburg-Simferopol) will be operated between June 10 and October 1, 2017. Also, as many as twelve Yekaterinburg-Sochi flights will be operated weekly this June. Flight U6 523/524 will be available at the weekends (June 17,18, and 25). Throughout the summer, Ural Airlines offer daily flights from Yekaterinburg to the South of Russia. For more information on the available departure times and in

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 7, 2017. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) announced an unscheduled buy-back offer on its BO 05, ISIN RU000A0JTVE3 bonds. The bank promises to buy the bonds back from any holder on June 8, the bank’s press service reports. The BO 05 series (coupon period: 182 days; face value: 2bn RUR all in all) was issued on April 19, 2013, with circulation period through April 10, 2020. The bank also went through with an additional 1bn RUR share issue of the same series in September 2016. The decision relating to the buy-back offer was taken by the bank’s