Telecoms market in CIS countries - 2012 trends - December 2011

Revenues of mobile telephony operators drive the growth of the telecommunications market in the CIS countries and Georgia. The region is far from being homogenous, however, some common trends can be observed.

The economic development of the CIS countries differs significantly, which is explained by different factors including geography, availability of natural resources, cultural differences of the population and political systems. The most developed CIS countries are Ukraine and Belarus, which have diversified economies with a significant share of processing industries. These countries also benefit from good geographic location being close to the huge market of the European Union as well as to the main Russian economic centres of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Belarusian economic growth is driven by the export of machinery, heavy equipment, household goods and agricultural products to Russia.