Russian Cell Phone Subscribers Up 5% in July

MOSCOW. Aug 10 (Interfax) – Russia had 102.44 million mobile phone subscribers at the end of July, up 5% from the end of June, AC&M Consulting said in its monthly update.

Mobile phone penetration, or the number of cell phones per 100 people, was 70.6%, compared with 67.2% at the end of June. Penetration in Moscow was 121.6%, against 118.2% in June, and 105.5% in St. Petersburg, against 102.3%.

Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), the No. 1 mobile operator in Russia and the CIS, increased subscriber number 4.9% from June to 35.74 million in July, or 34.9% of Russia’s total cellular market. MTS services more than 44.2% of Moscow users and 32.5% in St. Petersburg.

VimpelCom, the Beeline trademark, also increased subscriber numbers by 4.9% to 35.35 million in July, or 34.5% of the entire Russian market. At the end of July, 41.9% of Moscow subscribers used Beeline and 19.9% in St. Petersburg.

MegaFon increased subscriber numbers 5.3% to 19.154 million users in Russia in July, or 18.7% of all Russian subscribers. MegaFon accounted for 13.3% of the Moscow market and 40.5% of St. Petersburg.

The top ten operators also include Uralsvyazinform and its subsidiaries with 2.95 million, SMARTS with 2.39 million, Tele2 with 1.9 million, Sibirtelecom with 1.48 million, Nizhny Novgorod Cellular Communications with 906,200, Yekaterinburg Cellular Communications with 650,900 and New Telephone Company with 395,200.