Despite low average annual expenditure in mobile services, compared to other developing countries, Russia became the third largest market in the world in terms of subscriber numbers and revenue.

Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) estimates that there is potential in the Russian mobile phone market for an increase in value by 132% to US$ 34.1 Billion in the year 2012, compared to US$ 14.7 Billion in 2007. The average growth of the market according to MTS President Leonid Melamed in news published by Interfax will be at an annual rate of 15% during this period.

The growth witnessed by the Russian voice services market is mainly attributed to factors like the rise in mobile communications’ expenditure, which in turn is fuelled by growing personal incomes, growing number of subscribers relying solely on mobile services and the likelihood of subscribers rapidly familiarizing themselves with new technologies.

In Russia, mobile services account for an average annual expenditure of US$ 99 as opposed to US$ 158 in developing countries and US$ 513 in developed countries. The fairly low level of expenditure holds promise of opportunities for growth in the market.

Year 2006 saw the mobile companies’ services expand from SMS and MMS to content service that includes ring tones, mobile Internet, ring tones with basic services like caller ID. And, they become the prominent trends in the market. Promotion of these services will also be carried out with vital advertising investments in the Russian mobile market.

Last year (2006) the number of subscribers and revenue helped the mobile market in Russia reach third position among the world’s largest markets, behind only China and the United States. Mobile penetration went past the 100% mark with nearly 152 million subscribers from a total population of 145 million, using mobile services in that year.

The view of a research analyst at RNCOS is, “On the basis of the performance of other budding markets, a rise in the demand for the information transmission services in addition to the revenue’s share in overall profits of mobile operators through these services is likely to be in proportion with the growth in  mobile penetration. This scenario will be the outcome of product & technology innovations, a fall in prices of terminals & services and greater efficiency in the network’s performance. 

Related Market Research Reports:
European Mobile Market Scenario to 2012
Emerging Rural Mobile Market in India
African Mobile Market Forecast (2007-2011)