Synopsis
The Russian telecom market is the largest in Europe, supported by
a population of about 147 million. The market is dominated by the western
regions where the main cities and economic centres are concentrated. All
sectors have been liberalised, with competition most prevalent in Moscow. The
former holding company for Russia¡¯s incumbent telecom operators, Svyazinvest,
has emerged as Rostelecom, with most regional players absorbed into the
operator. Rostelecom subsequently merged its mobile business with Tele2 Russia,
and launched mobile services in the important Moscow market in October 2015.
Telcos continue to deploy and modernise fixed-line network
infrastructure to offer improved broadband services as well as a range of
IP-delivered content. The government is investing billions of Rubles in a
200,000km telecom network which will provide a 10Mb/s broadband service to
thousands of underserved villages, with Rostelecom as the contracted telco to
undertake and manage the work. Russia has also emerged as one of Europe¡¯s
fastest growing markets for fibre-based broadband, with Rostelecom¡¯s own fibre
broadband access network covering more than 30 million premises by December
2015.
Russia¡¯s recent economic woes, partly resulting from the ongoing
global financial crisis and partly to difficulties associated with a range of
sanctions related to the annexation of Ukraine, have impacted growth in the
telecom sector. However, this is expected to pick up in line with overall
economic growth during the next few years.
This report provides an overview of Russia¡¯s fixed-line telecom
and IT markets. It includes information on key regulatory developments, data on
fixed-line networks, and an assessment of the telcos¡¯ financial and operating
data and strategies.
Key developments
Rostelecom merges with Tele2 Russia, extends LTE services;
Rostelecom appointed the sole universal telecom services provider, contracted
to develop telecom network offering improved services to 13,600 villages;
Rostelecom Polarnet builds $2 billion trans-Arctic cable; report update
includes the regulator¡¯s market data to September 2015, telcos¡¯ financial and
operating data to Q3 2015, recent market developments.
Companies mentioned in this report:
TransTeleCom, VimpelCom, ER-Telecom, MTS, Rostelecom, PeterStar.
