Investment Opportunities in St. Petersburg Worth Looking Into
Although Russia is behind most developed countries in terms of internet development, the investment opportunities in St. Petersburg are big. That is the news from the 2nd annual St. Petersburg Internet Conference that was held recently. The conference was put together by the Moscow Regional Public Center of Internet Technologies (ROCIT) and the companies 1C-BITRIX and TRINET to give a platform to present a number of ways to take advantage of the backward Russian internet market.
St. Petersburg is two to three years behind Moscow in regards to internet development compared to other regions of the country which are three to four years behind. Add to that the fact that Moscow is three to four years behind the average of the developed world - that is a serious lag that demands attention.
But that doesn’t mean all doom and gloom. According to the Committee for State Statistics the number of internet users is expected to increase by three million this year to add to the 26 million users registered in Russia in 2007. There are around 700,000 .ru domain names so far in 2007. Advertising on the internet is also increasing, up 87 percent from last year and brings in $187 million, but it still lags behind traditional media.
One aspect addressed by the conference was the attractiveness of the St. Petersburg market because of the niches, little competition and the low cost of project start up. That combined with a projected 10-fold growth in the internet market makes St. Petersburg an attractive place for internet investment.
