Russia Has Vast Mobile Connections
Russia is the world No. 3 if measured by number of mobile subscribers, tailing only China and the United States in this indicator, concluded The Mobile World analysts. But it will probably yield to India, Pakistan and Indonesia next year, the analysts speculate.
China that has around 420 million mobile subscribers is the undisputable leader in the world. The United States has around 220 million, while Russia is the third leader with 140 million users of mobile communication.
But the leading standing of Russia will hardly last for long, The Mobile World analysts forecasted. It will yield to India next year, which jumped from the ninth place (57 million subscribers) to become No. 4 in the current rating (100 million).
India was the second in growth (48.5 million) from Q2’05 to Q2’06, having lost only to China (63 million) in this indicator. Russia secured the third result (41.7 million) and the United States was the fourth (26.8 million).
In addition to India, Russia may lose to Pakistan and Indonesia, where the pace of mobile market is very high, said Boris Ovchinnikov from J`son & Partners. In Russia, the growth rates are going down, as the penetration reached 100 percent by the end of August and exceeded 101 percent by the end of September, said AC&M-Consulting analyst Yelena Sayapina.
In terms of subscriber base, Russia’s MTS and VimpelCom maintained the seventh and eighth world ratings respectively for the second year running. MTS was the third in absolute growth (roughly 14 million) from June 30, 2005 to June 30, 2006, and VimpelCom won the fourth score (13 million). High score of Russia’s mobile companies in the world rating positively affects their investment attractiveness, the analysts say.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 30, 2006
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