According to Henry Radzikowski, director general of Sprint Networks USSR, credit card usage in Moscow has increased by 200% in 1992 creating an expanding new market for card processing and credit checking systems. Sprint makes its money from selling to card processing operations which then resell their services to both banks and the credit card companies. We make a little money on all these transactions as that is the way the deals are structured. But more importantly, these systems offer a model for what is possible here. There is no reason why card-based systems need to be restricted to either credit cards or to hard currency, he says. The Russian-US joint venture recently established a closed network connecting the headquarters of the Marine Fleet, MorFlot, with its regional divisions. Radzikowski says commercial banks are another growing sector of SprintNet services users since many now realise they must either automate or go out of business. Contracts have been signed with 15 banks to create closed networks covering commercial banks and other financial organisations. Sprint says it is able to offer regional banks this service as it now has a backbone network covering most of the main population centres in the former Soviet Union.
