p04,6,8,10,12,14,16,18-19 Euro 50 Al-Ciorcirlan NovDec08v4 7/11/08 16:04 Page 16
Euro 50 > Leaders in broadband and pay-TV Digital TV Europe
November/December 2008
Sergey Boyko President, Volia
subscribers to digital technology by the start these plans, however, will depend mostly on
of 2009. This year we have also achieved how hard the economic downturn will hit the
the impossible, as last year’s number of digi- country.
tal subscribers has almost doubled, jumping
from 180,000 to nearly 340,000. The num- Personal aims for the year ahead My per-
ber of requests for connection to Volia sonal aims are directly related to the company
Premium TV digital TV packages reached goals, and they are to achieve all the strategic
42,000 in July, a record high in the number objectives I mentioned earlier. The main goal is
of digital subscribers in one month since the probably to make people believe that what we
roll out of digital programming services in need right now is fast, rapid decisions and
September 2002. At this pace, we expect to understand the need to withstand the struggle
be providing digital-only services to approxi- for reducing the costs while maximising rev-
mately 490,000 subscribers by the second enue. This is a game which has us making
quarter of 2009. The greatest highlight of changes to a multitude of business processes
the year, however, was the merger of almost on a daily basis. And to prove that both
Ukrainian cable providers operating in more my team and I personally can do that must be
than 16 cities under the Volia brand. We’re the most important goal.
now facing a major task of expanding the
Ukraine’s leading cable operator Volia has con- unified Volia brand throughout the country Favourite TV show You may have never
sistently driven innovation in its market. It con- by developing and implementing common heard of it, but there is a great TV show in
tinues to successfully drive digital TV with the standards and bringing to regional cities the Ukraine called KVN (Klub Vesyolykh i
launch of new packages. same level and quality of service that our Nakhodchivykh). A couple of decades ago it
subscribers in Kyiv have come to rely upon. was started by students, then transformed into
Age 38 a popular TV show, which brought together
Reflections on the downturn We are cur- people with a great sense of humour and a
Education Kharkiv National Ukrainian rently reviewing our business plans for 2009 serious attitude to business. To this day the
Academy of Law: specialty – jurisprudence. to reflect changes in the overall business land- show gains wide audiences and gets record-
scape, including possible economic risks. There high TV ratings. We have a KVN league of our
Years in industry Eight. will definitely be some impact. As a minimum, own at Volia, it being a great team-building
we expect to see changes in customer prefer- game with an excellent long-lasting spirit-
Job description This is a complex question. ences and behaviour, not to mention a far boosting effect. As the philosophers of Ancient
Without a team, there is no manager. greater impact of foreign exchange fluctua- Greece once said: laughter at oneself is the
Teamwork is the key principle in our company. tions. The economic downturn will have an most purifying form of laughter.
All business processes are interrelated, and effect on the overall economics of the busi-
each team member makes a personal contri- ness and, as an after-effect, may cause an Little-known fact Men in the Soviet Union
bution to the end result. As a manager, I give increase in the cost of services. To counter the were required to do a two-year military serv-
direction, set the pace and assume responsibil- risk, we intend to take steps to reduce costs by ice. I served in an intelligence battalion, where
ity for making decisions that define the com- giving up cost-intensive technologies, among I actually had to learn the fundamentals of
pany strategy. In the course of my work I often other things. management, among other things, being in
have to make difficult decisions and question charge of a squad section, a platoon, and a
conventional paradigms. One principle we Positive thoughts for 2009 Speaking about regiment, not to mention the maths, all sorts
share in our team is to test new ideas and try Volia, we plan to adopt common customer of calculations, technical means, or technology.
new approaches to established practices. service standards and unified servicing princi-
ples in all cities of operation. In the short-term Life outside work Leisure time is a very rare
Last year’s highlights This year is extremely we are going to broaden the range of our serv- thing for me. But when I do have some, I spend
important for us. I would even call it our ices and improve the quality of service in the it with my family. I have a son, a high school
Olympics. For four years we have been moving regional cities by setting up call centres and senior, who is currently deciding what profes-
toward abandoning the old analogue technolo- offering attractive broadband internet pack- sional career he wants to pursue in life, and a
gy, making the best of our expertise, knowl- ages. In addition, we will be testing and launch- wonderful wife, a friend who takes care of all
edge, time, and talent to give our customers ing interactive services and functions, like family matters and runs a great household. I
access to best-in-class high-quality services. video-on-demand and others. Exactly how try to give them at least part of myself, if they
We set the goal to convert all of our Kyiv aggressively we will go about implementing cannot have all of me.
Visit us at www.digitaltveurope.net
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