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Megafon totals subscriber base to 42.32Mn, adds maximum subscribers in Oct (Russia)

  • November 20th, 2008
  • 10:52 am

Megafon continues to grow in the Russian mobile market in the month of October by adding 960,894 new subscribers. Megafon, country’s third largest operator, is competing closely with Vimpelcom, which stood at 45.88 million, 31.7% of total net addition. Megafon’s net additions counts to 38.7% share of Russia’s total net additions and totalled its subscriber base to 42.32 million. MTS lagged behind its rivals in terms of new additions, claiming just 19.4% with a subscriber base of 62.36 million in October, causing a threat to its number one position. Russia ended October with just over 182 million mobile subscribers, up from 179.54 million at the end of September.
   

MTS and MegaFon recieve approval to buy SMARTS (Russia)

  • October 20th, 2008
  • 5:14 am

The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service approves MTS’ and MegaFon’s request to acquire Russia telecom company SMARTS. The anti trust watchdog has also set some structural requirements for the SMARTS’ would-be buyers.
For the following acquisition the requests were filed by MegaFon and MTS on September 5 and mid-August respectively.
   

Russia’s mobile penetration reaches 123.7%

  • October 20th, 2008
  • 5:11 am

Russia’s mobile subscriber base reaches to 179.54m SIM cards in September, a rise of 1.26% since August. The subscriber base of the leading Russian mobile operator reached 91.731m SIM cards, experiencing a rise of 0.38%, whereas Vimpelcom totalled it’s base to 57.732m, an expansion of 2.04%, followed by MegaFon with 41.549m SIM cards, a rise of 1.95%.
The Russian mobile penetration reached 123.7% as on September-end.

   

MegaFon faces rejection from court (Russia)

  • October 3rd, 2008
  • 11:52 am

The Administrative Panel of the Tbilisi City Court rejects MegaFon’s plea against the fines imposed on the operator by the Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC) for unlicensed use of radio frequency spectrum within Georgia’s sovereign territory, which was earlier reported by Wireless Federation, “GNCC fines Megafon for illegal operations (Georgia)”.

To read the earlier reported post, click on the following link: http://wirelessfederation.com/news/gncc-fines-megafon-for-illegal-operations-georgia/

   

MegaFon shows interest in SMARTS Group (Russia)

  • October 2nd, 2008
  • 5:15 am

MegaFon, one of Russia’s third largest mobile operator by subscribers, files for regulatory approval for purchase of rival SMARTS Group. There are other firms also chasing the SMARTS deal, including MTS.

   

Megafon posts a net income of USD405 million in Q2′08 (Russia)

  • September 30th, 2008
  • 6:00 am

Megafon, one of Russia’s three largest mobile operators, posts the net income of RUB10.1 billion (USD405 million) in Q2′08, a rise of 22.1% year-on-year. Revenues rose 23.8% to RUB42.4 billion, while EBITDA was up 13.6% at RUB20.5 billion.
According to CEO Sergei Soldatenkov said: ‘MegaFon continues to show strong growth, mainly through strong increases in our subscriber base.’ He added: ‘We continue to move towards our goal: to become the largest Russian cellular operator in terms of revenues.’
Megafon had 38.9 million subscribers at the end of June with a market share of 22.4%.

   

iPhone sales in Russia will start from Oct 3 (Russia)

  • September 29th, 2008
  • 6:28 am

iPhone will home Russia on October 3 and it is anticipated that 150,000 units could be sold by the year end. Nadezhda Senyuk, a PR director at retail chain Tekhnosila, said, all retailers will begin sales of iPhone in Russia at the same time, during the night between October 2 and October 3.

8 gigabytes-22,999 roubles ($923.6)
16 gigabytes - 26,999 roubles ($1,084)

Russian mobile phone operator will charge the same price for the iPhone, without a contract. MTS, Vimpelcom and MegaFon are now taking advance orders as they have earlier reached a distribution deal with Apple.

GNCC fines Megafon for illegal operations (Georgia)

  • September 25th, 2008
  • 5:42 am

The Georgian National Communications Commission fines Megafon for it’s unlicenced operations. The fine is of more than USD360,000. According to the officials, Megafon has been warned continously by the regulator for the illegal operations.
‘We believe that what Megafon is doing in Georgia is akin to an economic occupation and annexation,’ said Giorgi Arveladze, chairman of the GNCC. ‘Our spectrum surveys indicate that this company dramatically expanded coverage before, during, and after the war, potentially making them a war profiteer and an active participant in Russia’s military operations inside the sovereign territory of Georgia.’

   

Astelit takes over Vimpelcom and MTS with 60% of total subscriber addition in Ukraine (Russia)

  • September 19th, 2008
  • 6:18 am

The mobile subscribers in Russia reaches 177.3 million with the end of August, a rise of 13.6 million from last year and an addition of 1.6 million in the month of August. The penetration has been huge and has crossed 122%, based on the reponse from the major cities. There were 174 SIM cards in use per 100 population in Moscow at the end of last month and 159 in St Petersburg, showing a new trend in penetration.
With all the additions in Moscow, the leading operator MTS posted a negative growth for the month of August, with a falling subscriber base, from 61.86 million to 61.48 million. Though it still retained it’s top position with 34.7% market share.
Megafon had performed strongly in August, with the total market share of 22.4%. Its subscriber base rose to 40.57 million from 39.72 million.
Vimpelcom, claims 43.8% of new additions, taking its subscriber base to 44.26 million and its market share to 24.4%.
The country’s top two operators MTS and Vimpelcom posted slow growth in Ukraine and the number three player, Astelit, took over with 60% of the total subscribers added. It’s subscriber base rose to 10.58 million with the market share of 19%.
Vimpelcom added just over 100,000 subscribers in August, to boost its subscriber base to 2.37 million, but with a market share of 4.2%.
Kyivstar and number two operator MTS added around 10,000 and 2,500 subscribers respectively, with the Ukraine’s total subscriber base moving to 55.72 million from 55.31 million in July. Penetration stood at 120.6%.

   

MTS becomes a part of “big three” for Apple iPhone (Russia)

  • September 8th, 2008
  • 8:23 am

Russia’s mobile market leader MTS has signed a deal with Apple for the sale of iPhone in Russia.
MTS has now become a part of the country’s “big three” providers to announce the distribution agreement.
Both MegaFon and VimpelCom have signed the deal to offer iPhone 3G. Whereas, MTS has not specified which model it will be selling.
According to Analysts Apple has decided to sign deals with the “big three” because it wants to get a good exposure on the local market, where buyers can be put off by handsets that run on only one network.