Russia Subscriber Base Passes 20 Million Mark

J'son & Partners and Sotovik's monthly report on the Russian mobile phone market has shown that at the end of February, the total number of cellular subscribers in Russia (GSM, TDMA/DAMPS, NMT, IS-95, IMT-MC-450) broke through an important barrier of 20 million and reached 20.45 million, rising 6% from end-January.

Such a significant monthly growth was partially due to the change of the subscriber count methodology by MegaFon. The share of the Moscow License Area (MLA) continues to decline - now less than 40%. Gross additions in February were 1.17 million subscribers. The overall penetration in Russia reached 14.2% of the population.

North-West Region with its current population of 12.7 million is the second largest market in Russia for cellular services in terms of the overall penetration level. The overall penetration in the North-West Region is 24%, while in St. Petersburg and Leningrad region, it is over 37%1 . Thanks to its favorable geographic location, allowing for ongoing commercial cooperation and trade with European countries, Kaliningrad Oblast has the second highest penetration level (21%) in the region.

Posted to the site on 5th March 2003