The Russian retail fixed broadband internet market volume totaled 135.6 billion rubles ($2.47 billion), up by 3.2 percent year on year, according to a study from TMT Consulting. Average revenue per user (ARPU) was 344 rubles ($5.19), up by 1 ruble from 2017, Telecompaper reports.
According to the report, subscriber base totaled 33.2 million at the end of 2018, up 2.1 percent from the previous year. Growth in the subscriber base isn’t expected to exceed 1 percent this year, and annual revenues will increase by an estimated 3 to 4 percent.
Subscribers of the top-5 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) formed 70 percent of the total subscriber base. ER-Telecom grew by 323,000 or 9.2 percent in 2018, for a market share of 12 percent.
The increase was mainly related to the acquisition of new assets – regional ISPs Bryansk Cable Networks, Telemir and Strela Telecom. Subscribers at MTS increased by 193,000 or 6.3 percent, for a market share of 10 percent. The operator expanded and upgraded its network in the city and region of Moscow and in Siberia.
TransTelecom (TTK) added 140,000 broadband subscribers, growing by 8.4 percent for a market share of 5 percent at year-end.
The customer base of Beeline, a subsidiary of Dutch-based telecom services company VimpelCom, grew by 4.9 percent, or 109,000, and reached a market share of 7 percent.
Rostelecom, Russia’s largest digital services company, increased by 78,000, up by 0.7 percent, and achieved a market share of more than 36 percent, TMT Consulting said in the report.
