Russian Mobile Penetration Tops 18%

More than 27 million of the nation's citizens are wireless subscribers, reflecting record growth.

As of July 2003, Russian mobile penetration reached 18.6 percent of the population, according to findings from J’son & Partners, representing a 6.7 percent gain for the month alone. The total number of cellular subscribers reached 27.01 million, with 56 percent attributed to the Moscow Licensed Area (MLA) and 45 percent in the St. Petersburg Licensed Area.

Of the 1.7 million gross additions for the month, mobile operator, MTS, led the charge in Russia, while VimpelCom had the most adds for MLA. The gross additions for July exceeded those in June 2003, when 1.58 million new customers subscribed.

Top Cellular Operators as of July 31, 2003
Operator Total Subs Moscow Subs
1. MTS 9,910,000 4,295,000
2. VimpelCom 7,950,000 4,650,000
3. MegaFon 4,645,350 513,257
4. SMARTS 860,000 n/a
5. Uralsvyazinform* 837,373 n/a
6. N. Novgorod Cellular 268,142 n/a
7. Tomsk Cellular Communications 169,926 n/a
8. Yeniseytelecom 160,486 n/a
9. Yekaterinburg-2000 155,699 n/a
10. SibChallenge 138,000 n/a
* Consolidated all regions and standards
(GSM, TDMA/DAMPS, NMT, IS-95)
Source: J’son & Partners; Sotovik

Advanced Communications & Media found that MTS accounted for 37 percent of the market in July 2003, and 32 percent of the net additions for the month.

July 2003 Operator Breakdown
Operator Total
Market Share
Shares in
Net Additions
Moscow
Market Share
Moscow
Net Additions
MTS 37% 32% 45% 35%
VimpelCom 30% 29% 49% 49%
MegaFon 17% 23% 5% 16%
Other 16% 16% n/a n/a
MCC n/a n/a 1% n/a
Source: Advanced Communications & Media

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