bca.ru — the site of the Nizhny Novgorod telecom operator "Agency for Business Communications" (ADS), which belonged to the "Golden Telecom" group of companies. Snapshots of the home page in the web archive span 2003–2012[1][3]. In 2003 the bottom of the home page carried the company's address: Nizhny Novgorod, Sovetskaya St., 12, phone (8312) 77-77-77, email web@bca.ru[1].

The 2003 site: "I want to learn about..."

The early version of the home page opened with a drop-down list "I want to learn about...", listing four products: InternetExpress, InternetPlus, dial-up connection for legal entities, and ADSL[1]. Below it came an "About the Company" block: OOO "Agency for Business Communications", part of the "Golden Telecom" holding (NASDAQ: GLDN), was — in the home page's own words — "one of the leading telecommunications companies in the Nizhny Novgorod region"[1]. The list of services: local, long-distance, and international communications, data transmission, Internet access (including ADSL), and dial-up access under the trademark ROL[1].

The same page featured two interactive elements typical of the era: a check of ADSL technical availability by phone number, and a subscription form for company news[1].

The news block from spring and summer 2003 has survived intact. On July 15, 2003, the site warned subscribers that large sums for unauthorized international calls to "exotic countries" might appear on their phone bill, and explained how to avoid this[1]. On May 7, 2003, the company congratulated clients and colleagues on Radio Day[1]. On May 4, 2003, under the headline "Sorrowful news for Nizhny Novgorod residents," the ADS staff offered condolences on the death of Mikhail Anatolyevich Bakhaev, director of NGTS[1].

The later version: a page inside "Golden Telecom"

By 2011 the site had no distinct look of its own left: the home page opened with a "Golden Telecom" header featuring the menu "Services," "Support," "Forum," "Contacts," and an "Apply" button[2]. Navigation was split by audience — "For Individuals," "Small and Medium Business," "Corporations," "Telecom Operators," "Property Owners" — and by corporate sections "About the Company," "Press Center," "Shareholders," "Contacts"; a separate link led to a "Statistics Server" for subscribers[2].

The self-description had also changed. It was now ZAO "Agency for Business Communications," part of the "Golden Telecom" group of companies, operating in the Nizhny Novgorod market since 1994; the page reported that in 2002 two telecommunications companies had joined ADS — "Commercial Information Networks" and "TeleRoss — Nizhny Novgorod"[2]. According to the page's description, the network was built on fiber-optic communication lines, and its services were aimed at the general population, small and medium-sized enterprises, and large corporations[2].

The 2011 news feed was almost entirely about tariffs. April 29 — "Home internet and telephone for individuals for just 500 rubles a month!"[2]. June 1 — extension of the promotion offering a 100 percent discount on "Home Telephone" hookup until September 30, 2011, and on October 17 its further extension until January 31, 2012[2][3]. June 21 — new price lists for local and intra-zone telephone service; November 21 — new tariffs for ADSL internet access effective December 1, 2011[2][3]. In the footer, both in 2011 and in 2012, stood the same line, "© 2003-2006 Golden Telecom"[2][3].

Place in the Nizhny Novgorod Internet

In our body of Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating, bca.ru made it in not through a hit counter but through the nn.ru catalog's directory listing, whose description almost verbatim repeated the "About the Company" text from the site itself[1]. There is no ranking for the site in our Counter.nn.ru data, and among the sites voted for at the Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day in 2004, bca.ru does not appear[4]. Judging by the content of the snapshots, this was not a resource competing for traffic: the page served as the operator's corporate storefront, a point for taking orders, and a tariff reference, while the operator itself belonged to the infrastructure layer of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet — the layer that handed out access to everyone else rather than competing with them for ranking.

How it closed

The last substantive snapshot of the home page is dated February 6, 2012: the same "Golden Telecom" layout, with the most recent news item dating to November 2011[3]. According to our census, the domain is marked dead: from 2013 onward bca.ru showed a parking page, and the web archive's last visit to the address falls on May 16, 2014[5]. Who owns the domain today cannot be determined from the available materials; the liveness check merely notes that the content at the address no longer has anything to do with the "Agency for Business Communications."

Sources

  1. web.archive.org — Home page, 2003 (archive)
  2. web.archive.org — Home page, 2011 (archive)
  3. web.archive.org — Home page, 2012 (archive)
  4. web.archive.org — Results of the Day of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet vote, 2004 (archive)
  5. web.archive.org — Web archive's last visit to bca.ru, 2014 (archive)