Mobile operator capex declined by 13 percent to USD $5.97 billion in 2012, according to the latest report from EJL Wireless Research titled “Russian Mobile markets Analysis 2007-2012” “Official BTS registrations increased by 20 percent while actual base stations installed increased by 15 percent from 2011” says founder and President, Earl Lum. EJL Wireless Research is forecasting that the Russian wireless market will see mobile capex levels near USD $7 billion through 2017.
Some key and notable facts from the analysis include:
- 63 percent of total installed BTS are 2G GSM
- 34 percent of total installed BTS are 3G W-CDMA
- 4 percent of total installed BTS are 4G LTE
- MTS has the largest number of installed BTS in its networks, overtaking MegaFon
- Region 1 (Central Federal District) has the most BTS installed by mobile operators
“We believe that Ericsson, Huawei Technologies and Nokia Siemens Networks are the leading BTS equipment vendors for Russian mobile operators,” says Lum.
“MTS invested the most in its networks in 2012 followed by VimpelCom and MegaFon. We expect heavy investments in both 3G and 4G technologies going forward from mobile operators” says Lum.
The report provides a comprehensive analysis of the complex Russian wireless infrastructure market as well as some financial analysis for each mobile operator. We believe that the operator landscape is ready for a round of consolidation.