Russia added 0.9 million in the month of February taking the total to 190 million, reports Russian consultancy firm ACM Consulting. The mobile penetration rate rose to 131%, up by 0.6% from January 2009 and 16% from February 2008.

On the other hand, Ukraine experienced a downfall in terms of subscribers which fell by 0.2 million, taking down the total subscribers base to 55.6 million. The mobile penetration rate fell to 120.5%, down by 0.4% from January 2009.

Source: Wireless Federation.

The number of mobile subscribers in Russia increased to 190 million in February 2009, up by 0.9 million from January 2009 and up by 23.2 million from February 2008, according to Russian consultancy firm ACM Consulting. Penetration increased to 131 percent, up 0.6 percent from January 2009 and up 16 percent from February 2008. At the end of February, there were 188 and 169 Sim cards in use per 100 inhabitants in Moscow and St. Petersburg, respectively. In Ukraine, the number of subscribers decreased to 55.6 million, down 0.2 million from January 2009 and up 0.4 million from February 2008. Penetration was 120.5 percent, down 0.4 percent from January 2009 and up 1.4 percent from February 2008.

Source: Telecompaper.

The total number of broadband users in the Republic of Belarus reached 250,000 at the end of last year, online news journal e-Belarus.org reports. Of the total, around 190,000 were ADSL users, including 150,000 retail connections for national PTO Beltelecom, and 60,000 were hooked up via a cable modem with the likes of Minsk-based Cosmos TV. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, Beltelecom began to develop its broadband internet access service in 2002 and since September 2006 has offered ADSL services under the brand name Byfly, offering a non-guaranteed bandwidth service costing USD17 per month for a 1Mbps/512kbps (downlink/uplink) package. In November 2007 the company reduced the cost of selected high speed access services by 30% and at the end of the year claimed some 50,000 broadband ports had been installed for xDSL services. By the start of this year Beltelecom controlled 78% of ADSL access in the country, and 44% in Minsk.

Source: TeleGeography.

Velcom posts its third quarter results. The subscriber base reaches to 3.5 million with the net addition of 100,000 new subscribers in third quarter. The 100% owned Telekom Austria subsidiary, reported revenues of EUR82.4 million (USD104.1 million) and EBITDA of EUR41.9 million in the period under review, while its EBITDA margin was stable at 50.8%. The operating income in this quarter was EUR22.7 million. The ARPU grows from EUR6.9 in 2Q08 to EUR7.6 in 3Q08, driven by the launch of new attractively priced tariff plans and currency fluctuations. While, average MOU dipped from 165.8 to 162.8 in the same period.

Source: Wireless Federation.

­France Telecom's mobile division, Orange says that it has submitted a bid for the 3rd mobile phone license in Armenia - valued at EUR51 million (US$70 million). Armenia’s Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) announced the tender in July and said that there will be a reserve price of US$16 million for the license and the winner will be required to invest a minimum of US$320 million in the network rollout.

Armenia currently has two mobile networks, Armentel (majority owned by Russia's VimpelCom) and VivaCell (majority owned by Russia's MTS). Russia's other main operator, Megafon had been regularly cited as the certain winner of the tender - so the shortlist had proven to be a surprise.

The two incumbent operators have confirmed that they will launch 3G services shortly.

Figures from the Mobile World show that the country ended the first half of this year with a shade under 3 million subscribers - representing a population penetration level of 72%.

Source: Cellular News.

­Russian mobile operator, MTS has announced the launch of a test zone of its 3G network in Uzbekistan and technical readiness for commercial launch in late 2008. Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, became the first city in the region where MTS launched its next-generation network. The Company plans to cover the entire city and to announce the commercial launch by the end of the year. Additional cities will be launched in 2009, including Samarkand, Bukhara, and Andijan.

Development of UMTS networks is a cornerstone of MTS' strategy to provide mobile broadband in the CIS. As these markets demonstrate relatively low levels of fixed-line penetration and historic underinvestment in infrastructure, MTS views its networks as an ideal vehicle to meet the growing broadband Internet needs of its subscribers through attractive data products and services.

MTS launched its first 3G network in Russia in May 2008 and plans to launch the network in Armenia in early 2009. MTS is currently operating a CDMA-450 network in Ukraine.

Source: Cellular News.