Keeping a Finger on the Telco Pulse of Eurasia

Posted: March 24th, 2011 | Author: Leila Heijola | Filed under: Events, Telecom Trends | Tags: , , | No Comments »

Russia, Turkey and all of Eurasia have great potential for growth, especially in the area of mobile broadband. In general, mobile penetration is significantly lower here than in Western European markets. Since fixed networks are often less developed in these countries, they are depending more heavily on mobile networks. As a result, mobile broadband has the potential to surpass fixed broadband as soon as this year,  and CSPs in the region are looking for solutions for convergence, new revenue streams from value-added services and how to adopt LTE.

One interesting Eurasia telco fact to note: the markets of Central Asia and the Caspian region are often lumped together as “the stans”; however, there is a striking difference between these countries. According to the CIA World Factbook, mobile phone penetration in Kazakhstan is as high as 96 percent, while in Turkmenistan, it is only about 40 percent.

The exciting opportunities in this region have not gone unnoticed. In fact, as a result, Comptel has integrated a new operating structure and divided our European business into two areas, Europe West and Europe East. This move will allow us to focus our efforts on new growth areas, especially in Eurasia, while actively maintaining large customer accounts in Western Europe.

To further immerse us into the Eurasia market, we will be attending this year’s EurasiaCom, Eurasia’s only commercially focused telecoms event, in Istanbul, Turkey on March 29-30. Comptel is looking forward to being a part of this changing environment, as well as learning from and sharing ideas with other leaders in the industry at this year’s EurasiaCom. Will you be attending?