Belarus - Economic Conditions Improve But Inflation Causing Lingering Revenue Stress for Operators, Reveals New Report

Belarus's economic growth was halted by the 2008 financial crisis. Although inflation has been brought down to more manageable levels since the hyper-inflationary year of 2011, inflation in 2014 was still running at about 20% while the value of the Rouble has fallen in relation to other currencies, including the Euro. This has impacted on operator revenue, particular for the subsidiaries of Turkcell and Telecom Austria. The ongoing economic difficulties have also reduced customer spend, contributing to lower revenue and investment.

Nevertheless, there remain many opportunities for growth in coming years, particularly in broadband segment where penetration is relatively low. Although the sector has been reformed in recent years, restructuring has not yet resulted in the privatisation of the incumbent Beltelecom, which has invested substantially in infrastructure and technologies. Although the government is keen to control these assets, there is greater pressure for it to sell state enterprises in a bid to reduce overall debt. Growth for Beltelecom is expected to be particularly strong in the FttP sector, where much of the company's capex is directed.

The mobile sector has experienced the strongest growth in telecoms, with a rapid rise in mobile penetration attributed to effective competition. Operators have concentrated on developing mobile broadband and data services with a view to capitalising on such services to increase ARPU. By early 2014 there were about 4.3 million active mobile broadband subscribers, giving a penetration rate of about 46%. Recent spectrum auctions will facilitate the development of mobile broadband access, particularly in rural areas. The government in early 2014 again failed to sell its 51% stake in MTS, with no bids having being filed.

Spanning over 33 pages, “Belarus - Telecoms, IP Networks, Digital Media and Forecasts” report covering the Executive summary, Key statistics, Telecommunications market, Regulatory environment, Fixed network operator in Belarus, Telecommunications infrastructure, Internet market, Broadband market, Overview of broadcasting market, Mobile communications, Forecasts – fixed broadband market – 2010 - 2013; 2020. The report covered companies are - Beltelecom, Cosmos TV, Minsk TV and Information Networks (MTIS), Teleradio, Belcel, MDC, MTS Belarus, BeST

For more information see at- http://mrr.cm/Z8F