Kyrgyzstan - Telecoms, Mobile and Internet

Oct. 20, 2010 - PRLog -- The telecommunications sector in Kyrgyzstan is characterised by an open market that has welcomed both foreign and domestic investors. This has been effectively done in accordance with the requirements set down by the WTO. Under the terms of the country's accession to the WTO (which took place in 1998), full liberalisation of the telecoms market had been expected to be achieved by end-2006. According to the ITU, Kyrgyzstan had implemented full competition across all segments of its telecoms sector by 2007.
The telecom sector has been part of the final phase of a large scale privatisation program that has been steadily progressing in the country since 1992. The start of market reforms in 1991 saw the state telecommunications agency, Kyrgyztelecom, begin to expand and upgrade its legacy telecom network, which at the time was outdated and poorly distributed. With the expansion of the telecoms sector, upgraded standards have been adopted. At the same time, a new regulatory authority-the National Communications Agency which later became known as the National Agency for Information Resources, Technologies and Communication-was set up to oversee the sector. At an early stage, Kyrgyztelecom was restructured as a public corporation and the government moved towards a partial sale of the operator to the private sector. Around 10% of the company quickly passed into private hands. By mid-2010, after a series of failed attempts to sell off the government shareholding, the government was still holding almost 78% of Kyrgyztelecom.
Private operators, which actively operate in the mobile market and in the provision of Internet services, have been investing heavily in the relevant infrastructure. Whilst there are four mobile networks in operation, the two big GSM operators-Bitel and MegaCom-have been dominating the market, between them claiming 86% of the total mobile subscriber base by March 2009. Since the first GSM network was launched in 1998, the number of mobile subscribers has grown rapidly from a few thousand in 1999 to around 4.3 million in early 2010. By this stage it was heading for 100% penetration (probably achieving this in early 2011). Growth in the country's mobile market into 2010 continued to moderate compared with the general growth in recent years. It was likely that the year would see an expansion of less than 20%. Nonetheless, there were positive indications that the market would continue to steadily expand for some time yet.
Market highlights:

By early 2010 mobile penetration in Kyrgyzstan was around 85%;
After very strong growth in the three years to 2008, the country's mobile subscriber base was still expanding at an annual rate of 26% during 2009 and into 2010;
Fixed-line penetration in Kyrgyzstan stood at 9% by early 2010; however, the annual growth rate for fixed lines was almost zero;
The conversion of the country's fixed network from analogue was moving slowly, with an estimated 70% digital by 2009, but well up from just 37% in 2004;
Kyrgyzstan's Internet usage has undergone a healthy expansion over the last few years, with user penetration reported at about 40% coming into 2010;
On the other hand, actual Internet subscriptions remained relatively low in Kyrgyzstan (less than 1% penetration), with the local population making extensive use of public Internet access (cybercaf¨¦s, etc). (Note: On the basis of ITU figures for 2009, the ratio of Internet users to subscribers was running at 45 to 1 which is an unusually high ratio compared with other similar markets and may suggest some inconsistency in the figures.)
Fixed broadband Internet access was almost non-existent with subscriptions running at around 0.1% of the population;
According to the ITU, Kyrgyzstan has implemented full competition across all segments of its telecoms sector.Kyrgyzstan-key telecom parameters-2009-2010
Category20092010 (e)
Fixed-line services:
Total number of subscribers498,300505,000
Annual growth3%1%
Fixed-line penetration (population)9.1%9.2%
Internet:
Total number of subscribers47,20060,000
Annual growth21%27%
Internet subscriber penetration (population)1.1%1.1%
Mobile services:
Total number of subscribers (million)4.55.3
Annual growth26%18%
Mobile penetration (population)82%96%  
This report provides an overview of the trends and developments in the telecommunications markets in Kyrgyzstan. Subjects covered include:

Key statistics;
Market and industry overviews;
Major operators (mobile and fixed);
Regulatory environment;
Infrastructure;
Mobile market-voice and data;
Internet market.



Table of Contents
1. Executive summary  
2. Key statistics
2.1 Country overview
3. Telecommunications market
3.1 Overview of Kyrgyzstan's telecoms market  
3.2 Government projects
4. Regulatory environment
4.1 Regulatory authority
4.1.1 Kyrgyz National Communications Agency
4.2 Privatisation of Kyrgyztelecom
5. Fixed network operators in Kyrgyzstan
5.1 Kyrgyztelecom
5.2 Others
6. Telecommunications infrastructure
6.1 National telecom network
6.2 International infrastructure
6.2.1 Satellites
6.2.2 Optical fibre cable systems
7. Internet market
7.1 Overview
7.1.1 Internet statistics
7.2 ISP market
8. Mobile communications
8.1 Overview of Kyrgyzstan's mobile market
8.1.1 Mobile statistics
8.1.2 Mobile data
8.2 Major mobile operators
8.2.1 MegaCom (BiMoCom Ltd)
8.2.2 Bitel/Sky Mobile
8.2.3 Aktel
8.2.4 Katel
......

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