Mobile phone subscriptions in Russia stood at 239.5 million by the end of September, equal to 168 percent of the population, up from 234 million three months earlier, data from market research group AC&M showed on Tuesday.
The total number of valid SIM cards was up 5.4 million from the same period a year ago. The number is higher than 100 percent because many people own several SIM cards. Russia's population reached 143 million in 2012, according to the Federal Statistics Service.
AC&M provided the following data from millions of subscribers,including those in Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
| Number of Subscribers, in Millions | ||
|
| Sept 30 | June 30 |
| TeleSystems (MTS) | 105.27 | 102.77 |
| of which in Russia | 73.14 | 71.69 |
| VimpelCom* | 108.93 | 106.93 |
| of which in Russia | 58.10 | 57.10 |
| MegaFon | 68.26 | 66.04 |
| of which in Russia | 66.32 | 64.07 |
| Tele2 Russia** | 23.60 | 23.24 |
| Rostelecom ** | 14.06 | 13.77 |
| MOTIV** | 2.42 | 2.38 |
| SMARTS Group** | 1.72 | 1.83 |
| * VimpelCom's headline subscriber numbers are for
Russia and the CIS block of former Soviet republics only. ** All subscribers are in Russia. | ||
| — AC & M
| ||
| Market Share Breakdown as of Sept. 30 (%) | ||||
| MTS
| MegaFon
| VimpelCom
| Others
| |
| Russia | 30.0 | 28.0 | 24.0 | 18.0 |
| Moscow | 36.0 | 28.0 | 35.0 | 0.5 |
| St. Petersburg
| 28.0 | 33.0 | 21.0 | 18.0 |
| Regions | 30.0 | 27.0 | 22.0 | 21.0 |
| — AC & M | ||||
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