Russian mobile users up 3.3% in 2021

Russia’s active mobile subscriber base totaled 259 million this year (2021), up by 3.3% from the year before but slightly off from the 260 million recorded at the end of 2019, said a study.

According the study by TMT Consulting, the mobile market penetration totaled 178%.

The volume of the Russian telecommunications industry in monetary terms increased by 3.2% – this is one of the highest indicators in recent years. The total expenditures in the designated area in 2021 exceeded 1.80 trillion rubles. For comparison: last year this figure was equal to 1.75 trillion rubles. By 2026, analysts believe the market volume will reach 2.0 trillion rubles.

“The main driver of growth this year was the recovery of the mobile segment after the impact of the coronavirus. Revenues increased 4.4% versus 0.9% last year,” the study noted.

Meanwhile, there is a slowdown in areas such as fixed broadband and pay-TV. Broadband penetration in 2021 was 61%, and the growth of the subscriber base was only 0.8%. In the Pay TV segment, growth has practically stopped: here the number of subscribers increased by only 0.5%, amounting to 46.4 million.

TMT Consulting said: “The key factor in the development of the market for the coming years is the tariff policy of operators. Until now, a periodic revision of commercial terms has been observed only in certain segments of the Pay-TV and mobile services market. It can be expected that the revision of tariffs for basic communication services will become more common practice.” Developing Telecoms