Russia - Mobile Infrastructure, Broadband, Operators - Statistics and Analyses
Russia has the largest mobile market in Europe, with the number of subscriptions having passed 232 million. Several mobile network operators are active, although the market is dominated by four major operators (MTS, VEON, Tele2 Russia/Rostelecom and MegaFon). These have expanded their footprints widely through the acquisition of smaller regional service providers. Tele2 Russia has undergone several changes of ownership in recent years, becoming a significant player following its merger with Rostelecom. Competition in the key markets of Moscow and St Petersburg is fierce, due to the size of the cities' populations and the higher concentration of wealth there.
Mobile SIM card penetration is high, at around 164% by early 2018, although actual mobile user penetration is lower due to the popularity of multiple SIM card use. The extensive deployment of LTE infrastructure is supporting growth opportunities through mobile broadband and data services, which make up a growing proportion of overall mobile revenue. Investments in carrier aggregation and LTE-A technologies have further boosted network capabilities, while operators are also partnering with vendors to prepare for 5G.
This report provides an overview of Russia's mobile market, covering regulatory developments, the major mobile operators including MegaFon, VEON and Tele2, as well as technologies and mobile data, content and applications, and a variety of updated financial and operational statistics.
Key developments:
Roaming charges to end by mid-2018; Telenor again scales down shareholding in VEON; Tele2 Russia sets up an MVNE service; MegaFon reports data rates of up to 35Gb/s in 5G trials, deploys CA technology to deliver gigabit LTE-A; Rostelecom considers increasing its stake in Tele2 Russia; MegaFon and Rostelecom cooperate to develop 5G networks; SCRF turns down MNO requests for spectrum to trial 5G technologies; VEON contracts Huawei to trial LTE-A and 5G technologies; VEON agrees to sell tower infrastructure to Russian Towers; Ericsson and MTS sign agreement developing 5G services; Ministry of Communications removes restrictions on IMS, allowing for national VoLTE services; report update includes the regulator's market data to September 2017, telcos' financial and operating data to Q3 2017, recent market developments.
Companies mentioned in this report:
MegaFon, Tele2 Russia, Skylink, VEON (VimpelCom) Volga Telecom, SMARTS Group, Uralsvyazinform, MTS.
- 1. Synopsis
- 2. Market analysis
- 3. Mobile statistics
- 3.1 General statistics
- 3.2 Mobile voice
- 3.2.1 Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE)
- 3.3 Mobile data
- 3.3.1 SMS/MMS
- 3.4 Mobile broadband
- 4. Regulatory issues
- 4.1 Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
- 4.2 3G licences
- 4.3 800MHz spectrum
- 4.4 900MHz spectrum
- 4.5 1800MHz spectrum
- 4.6 2.6GHz spectrum
- 4.7 Roaming
- 4.8 Infrastructure sharing
- 5. Mobile infrastructure
- 5.1 Digital networks
- 5.1.1 GSM
- 5.1.2 Third Generation (3G) mobile
- 5.1.3 Long-term Evolution (LTE)
- 5.2 Other infrastructure developments (these are examples only)
- 5.2.1 Narrowband IoT
- 5.3 M2M networks
- 6. Major mobile operators
- 6.1 Mobile TeleSystems (MTS)
- 6.2 VEON (VimpelCom / Beeline)
- 6.3 MegaFon
- 6.4 Tele2 Russia
- 6.5 SMARTS Group
- 6.6 Uralsvyazinform
- 6.7 Rostelecom
- 6.8 VolgaTelecom
- 6.9 Skylink
- 6.10 Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs)
- 7. Mobile content and applications
- 7.1 Introduction
- 7.2 M-commerce
- 7.3 M-payments
- 8. Related reports
- Table 1 Historic - Mobile subscribers and penetration rate 1995 - 2009
- Table 2 Mobile subscribers and penetration rate 2010 - 2018
- Table 3 Mobile subscribers and penetration in Moscow, St Petersburg 2006 - 2016
- Table 6 Mobile market share of subscribers (Russia) 2010 - 2016
- Table 7 Mobile service revenue 2003 - 2017
- Table 9 Mobile VAS market share by operator 2007 - 2015
- Table 10 SMS sent 2011 - 2018
- Table 11 Active mobile broadband subscribers and penetration rate 2010 - 2018
- Table 12 LTE launch dates by operator
- Table 13 MTS mobile financial data (Russia, $) 2004 - 2012
- Table 14 MTS mobile financial data (Russia, RUB) 2004 - 2017
- Table 15 MTS capex (Russia, RUB) 2010 - 2017
- Table 16 MTS operating profit and margin (Russia, RUB) 2010 - 2017
- Table 17 MTS Russia subscribers 2004 - 2017
- Table 18 MTS Russia MOU, churn and annualised ARPU 2001 - 2015
- Table 19 MTS Russia mobile traffic 2014 - 2017
- Table 20 MTS Russia smartphone data traffic 2014 - 2017
- Table 21 MTS Russia annualised VAS 2004 - 2015
- Table 22 MTS Russia annualised VAS revenue by type 2010 - 2015
- Table 25 VEON mobile subscribers (Russia) 2005 - 2017
- Table 26 VEON ARPU and MOU (Russia) 2007 - 2017
- Table 27 VEON mobile financial data (Russia) 2007 - 2017
- Table 28 VEON mobile financial data by type (Russia) 2012 - 2017
- Table 29 MegaFon consolidated financial data 2007 - 2017
- Table 30 MegaFon capex 2011 - 2017
- Table 31 MegaFon mobile revenue 2005 - 2017
- Table 32 MegaFon mobile subscriber data 2008 - 2017
- Table 33 MegaFon base stations in use 2013 - 2015
- Table 34 MegaFon mobile data traffic 2012 - 2017
- Table 35 MegaFon mobile data revenue and subscribers 2012 - 2017
- Table 36 Tele2 financial data (historic) 2007 - 2012
- Table 37 Tele2 subscribers 2007 - 2016
- Table 39 SMARTS Group subscribers 2009 - 2015
- Table 40 SMARTS Group financial data 2006 - 2013
- Table 42 Rostelecom mobile subscribers (historic) 2010 - 2014
- Table 43 Rostelecom mobile revenue (historic) 2008 - 2014
- Table 48 M-commerce revenue 2011 - 2017
- Chart 1 Mobile subscribers and penetration rate 2005 - 2018
- Chart 2 MTS mobile financial data (Russia, RUB) 2004 - 2017
- Chart 3 MegaFon financial data 2007 - 2017