"Russia Telecommunications Report Q2 2015" Published

A key trend in the Russian mobile market has been consolidation. The merger of Tele2 and Rostelecom has been finalised, and BMI believes that there is further consolidation and rationalisation in the pipeline as Tele2 aims to consolidate 33 of its affiliates under central operations. It also appears as if Rostelecom is set to acquire a local WiMAX operator FreshTel . Although market saturation reached 168% in Q314, BMI believes that there is still scope for growth as some of these subscribers will be discounted as inactive SIM-cards get deactivated. LTE services continue to offer opportunities for more value-add data products to add revenue as smartphone penetration reaches 30%.

Key Data

* The subscriber base of the Russian mobile market bounced back to 239.470mnmn in Q314, according to data from the operators and from AC&M Consulting, with penetration increasing to 167.6%.
* The latest data release from AC&M Consulting shows there were 23.2mn wireline broadband subscriptions at mid-2013, up by 14.2% y-o-y, as the penetration rate reached 16.5%.
* FTTx subscriptions increased to 3.51mn at the end of September 2013, from 2.51mn a year earlier. The Russian pay-TV subscriber base grew by 2% in Q114, totalling 35mn. Penetration of pay-TV services reached 64%, with the seven largest operators accounting for 80% of the market.

Full Report Details at
- http://www.fastmr.com/prod/980277_russia_telecommunications_report_q2_2015.aspx?afid=301

Key Trends And Developments

Rostelecom has concluded the second and final stage of its deal to form a new national mobile operator in collaboration with Tele2 Russia. Rostelecom has transferred 100% of its stake in its subsidiary CJSC RT-Mobile to the new joint venture (JV) with Tele2 Russia. Rostelecom spun off its combined mobile assets into RT-Mobile and its licences have been reissued to the new venture. Rostelecom will own a 45% stake in the JV's share capital. Most of the assets spun off were in rural areas of Volga, Urals and Sibera. T2 RTC Holding aims to launch mobile services in Moscow by mid-2015.

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