Prices Up, Market Down
For the first time in Russia’s cellular history, the sales of cell phones will shed this year, the analysts forecast, blaming it not on the market saturation but rather on the 30-percent rise in prices for those phones.
The trend for the ailing sales of the cell phones survived in the second quarter, said the Q2 report of IDC. No more than 7.12 million cell phones were sold from April to June in Russia, 8.8 percent down on year.
The decline sprang no surprise actually. For cellular operators, the period of hasty growth of subscriber base has ended in Russia with the market shifting to the saturation stage. But the tricky point is the simultaneous increase in sales if calculated in terms of money.
In the first half of 2006, said Xenia Kirsanova from IDC, the market stepped up 7 percent on year to $2.55 billion. “The prices for cell phones climbed 30 percent in the past year, having caused the market decline,” said Euroset President Eldar Razroyev, specifying that the reasons were the crisis with cell phone deliveries in August of 2005 and aggressive growth in replacing the old phones by the new ones.
IDC forecasts 29.4 million cell phones will be sold in Russia this year, 8.5 percent down vs. 2005. The market will recover, the analysts say, but it will take time.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 08, 2006
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