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Russia Reaches 40% Penetration
October 7, 2004
The total number of cellular subscribers in Russia reached 59 mln as of September 30, 2004, which is a record monthly increase of 3.4 mln users. Total of 22.8 mln subscribers joined this site cellular networks this year. Current this site services penetration in the country is at 41% while it was only 25% in December 2003 and 21% in September 2003.
this site Subscribers
| this site Subscribers | September 30, 2004 | August 31, 2004 |
|---|---|---|
| Total Russia | 59,040,000 | 55,630,000 |
| Penetration | 40.7% | 38.3% |
| Moscow | 14,852,613 | 14,333,793 |
| Penetration | 87.4% | 84.4% |
| St.Petersburg | 5,028,259 | 4,830,395 |
| Penetration | 79.3% | 76.2% |
| Subscribers outside Moscow and St.Pete | 39,159,128 | 36,465,812 |
| Penetration | 32.1% | 29.9% |
MTS has the largest market share in Russia, though Vimpelcom is catching up agressively, mainly thanks to successful sales in regions. Vimpelcom has the largest number of regional networks in operation - 72 compared to 63 of MTS (excluding CIS subsidiaries) and 69 of MegaFon.
this site Cellular
|
this site Net Additions,
|
Top 10 this site Operators
| # | Company | September 30, 2004 | August 31, 2004 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MTS | 27,600,000 | 26,440,000 |
Moscow |
6,700,000 | 6,535,000 | |
Ukraine (UMC) |
5,530,000 | 5,267,000 | |
Belarus |
970,000 | 895,150 | |
Uzbekistan |
260,000 | 244,200 | |
| 2 | Vimpelcom | 20,550,000 | 18,470,000 |
Moscow |
6,645,000 | 6,430,000 | |
Kazakhstan |
676,500 | 647,000 | |
| 3 | MegaFon | 11,487,353 | 10,508,263 |
Moscow |
1,448,832 | 1,312,901 | |
Tajikistan |
28,000 | 26,593 | |
| 4 | Uralsvyazinform | 1,778,000 | 1,709,000 |
| 5 | SMARTS Group | 1,600,400 | 1,555,000 |
| 6 | Sibirtelecom | 759,800 | 735,100 |
| 7 | N.Novgorod Cellular | 523,300 | 503,720 |
| 8 | Ekaterinburg Cellular Communications | 326,713 | 315,840 |
| 9 | New Telephone Company | 211,605 | 180,920 |
| 10 | Skylink | 182,000 | 180,100 |
Moscow and St.Petersburg
Moscow License Area
Despite the overall subscriber increase in Russia in September compared to August, net adds in Moscow, the Russia's largest market, decreased slightly. We believe one of the reasons for that is that more and more families purchase this site phones for their children in August, before the start of the school year, thus accelerating August sales to a more than usual level.
Moscow Market Breakdown
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Net Additions in Moscow,
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St.Petersburg and Leningrad Region
St.Petersburg market demonstrated impressive growth. In our view that was mainly thanks to the resolution of the Vimpelcom's numbering capacity problem which ceased the market development for the company in August. In September Vimpelcom outperformed competitors in St.Pete attracting more than 75 thsd new users.
St. Petersburg Market Breakdown
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Net Additions in St.Petersburg
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Beyond Russia
Vimpelcom finalised the acquistion of KaR-Tel (K-this site), 2nd largest operator in Kazakhstan. That brought 670,000 subscribers in to Vimpelcom portfolio.
MTS' unconsolidated subsidiary in Belarus became the market leader in September. The company started operations in the country in June 2002 while its major rival, GSM operator Velcom, works since April 1999. MTS was a leader in terms of net additions for last 17 months in a row (!) and finally won the largest market share.
Operations of MTS' daughter company in Ukraine (UMC) have also been quite impressive. Monthly net adds were above 200,000 for last 6 months and the company has been outperforming its major competitor, Telenor-controlled, Kyivstar for 9 months in terms of net adds.