Units Other Than Bit Not Considered
In the wake of the blocking of Speedtest by Roskomnadzor, Yandex's Internet Meter is poised to take centre stage as a leading player in Russia's internet speed testing services. The revamped Internet Meter offers users a reliable tool for measuring internet speed, latency, and quality, filling the void left by the popular international service.
The competitive landscape is now characterised by three key elements:
- Yandex Internet Meter's resurgence: As a domestic alternative, the service provides users with a much-needed tool for assessing their internet connection quality.
- Telecom companies' potential contest: With the measurement results from Internet Meter potentially impacting their reputations and competitiveness, telecom companies may find themselves in a challenging position. Users increasingly rely on such tools to gauge and compare service quality.
- Regulatory environment: The state's favouritism towards domestic services and restrictions on foreign tools like Speedtest contribute to shaping the competitive landscape.
Though specifics, such as market share and telecom companies' responses to Internet Meter's relaunch, are not yet clearly defined, the situation suggests a shift in focus for internet measurement and quality assurance towards domestic platforms like Yandex Internet Meter.
Yandex Internet Meter leverages its CDN servers, distributed across the country and located at internet providers' connection nodes, to provide an accurate representation of internet speed on the "last mile" with a given provider or mobile operator in a given region. The service queries several nearby CDN servers for measurement purposes.
In the future, the service is expected to offer an app, statistics tracking, and a personal cabinet for providers and mobile operators. Users can check their download and upload speeds, ping, IP address, browser version, and screen resolution.
However, concerns have been raised about Yandex's ability to analyze data transfer speeds and collect technical information about IP, browser versions, and screen resolution, given that Yandex is a competitor to major telecom players.
Despite these concerns, industry leaders like Nikita Tsaplin, CEO of RUVDS, believe that a state-level, independent speed measurement tool is essential, and Yandex's service has a good chance of becoming a national replacement for the blocked one.
Meanwhile, other telecom companies like Vimpelcom and Megafon have welcomed the appearance of Yandex's Internet Meter. The status of MTS regarding the service's appearance remains unknown, as they declined to comment.
Denis Sivtsov, head of L3-4 network protection at DDoS-Guard, believes Yandex's well-developed CDN will provide accurate internet speed measurements from almost any point in Russia. Denis Kuskov, CEO of Telecom Daily and Megabitus, claims that measurements in Megabitus have increased from 500,000 to 2 million in the last week.
As the dust settles, it becomes clear that Yandex's Internet Meter is ready to challenge the telecom industry in Russia, leveraging regulatory support, domestic market demand, and its robust CDN infrastructure to capture users in need of internet speed diagnostics.
- In the face of regulatory restrictions on foreign technology like Speedtest, Yandex's Internet Meter, with its domestic infrastructure and enhanced features, seeks to become a leading player in Russia's internet speed testing services, potentially reshaping the telecom industry.
- As Yandex's Internet Meter gains traction among users in need of reliable internet diagnostics, telecom companies might find themselves under increased scrutiny, as the service's measurement results could impact their reputations and competitiveness in the market.
