Eastern Europe’s mobile
penetration surpassed 130% in 2009
Isabelle Paradis
February 2010
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According to the information released by HOT TELECOM
(www.hottelecom.com) in its latest report “Eastern
statistics and forecast 2004-2013”, there
were an estimated 427 million mobile subscribers
at the end of 2009 in Eastern Europe(1). This translated
into a 6.3% growth over the year.
By the end of 2009, mobile accounted for 81.9%
of all telephone connections in the region, compared
with 65.4% in 2004. The number of mobile subscribers
is forecasted to have grown by an average of 2.2%
to 466 million by the end of 2013. At that time,
mobile penetration should have reached 146.5%.
Russia, Ukraine and Poland are by far the region’s
three largest mobile markets with an estimated 208
million, 55 million and 45 million mobile subscribers
respectively at the end of 2009. Together these
three countries generate 72.2% of the region’s
mobile connections. On the other hand, Lithuania,
Russia and Bulgaria enjoy by far the highest mobile
penetration rates in Eastern Europe with 148.4%,
147.2% and 147.4% mobile penetration respectively
at the end of 2009.
Albania, Belarus and Bosnia have enjoyed the highest
levels of mobile subscriber growth in 2009, with
estimated growth rates of 18.1%, 14.2% and 16.2%
respectively. This report, which includes 31 detailed
exhibits and tables on Eastern Europe’s telecom
market, confirms that Hungry, Lithuania, Slovakia
and Ukraine suffered from negative mobile subscriber
growth in 2009. “The economic recession has
hit hard in some of the region’s countries
translating into a decrease in mobile subscriber
growth” HOT TELECOM’s president Isabelle
Paradis said.
Find out more on the region’s fixed, mobile,
Internet and broadband statistics and forecasts
in HOT TELECOM’s new 31-page “Eastern
Europe telecom statistics and forecast 2004-2013”
report, which can be purchased online at: http://www.hottelecom.com/eastern-europe-stats.html.
(1) For the purpose of this article, the Eastern
Europe market consists of the following countries:
Albania, Latvia, Belarus, Lithuania, Bosnia, Poland,
Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Russia, Czech Rep.,
Serbia, Estonia, Slovakia, Georgia, Slovenia, Hungary
and Ukraine.
Find out more on the region's fixed, mobile and Internet markets in HOT TELECOM's new 31-page "Eastern Europe telecom statistics and forecast 2002-2011" report, which can be purchased online at: http://www.hottelecom.com/eastern-europe-stats.html.
