Corbina Telecom falls short of its 180,000 broadband subscribers target

The Moscow-based broadband Internet access provider Corbina Telecom has failed in its attempt to sign up 180,000 new broadband subscribers by year's end despite a spate of promotional events the likes of the Miss Breasts contest. Last year the ISP also tried to gain publicity through scandal by posting a homophobic promo flick on its website. This year Corbina fell short of its target by 60,000 subscribers. During the year the company added 102,000 new subscribers, but most of them, some 55,000, signed up during the last four months of 2006. The company also failed to connect the planned number of buildings. Out of the originally planned 27,000, the company managed to get only 20,000 buildings online. Despite this setback, the ISP has not abandoned its ambitious expansion plans. Next year Corbina plans to build a network of Wi-Fi hotspots throughout Moscow and start deploying broadband access networks in other major European cities of Russia and possibly in Moscow oblast.