Russian MTS the second largest mobile operator in Europe
Research says MTS, VimpelCom (which operates under the Beeline trademark) and MegaFon are now among the top ten biggest operators. Wireless Intelligence has highlighted the rise of Russia's mobile operators as a continental force in its latest rankings.
MTS Group, which runs networks in six Eastern European markets including Russia and Ukraine, is now the second-largest operator group in Europe on a proportional basis behind Vodafone.
MTS Group's main regional competitors - VimpelCom and MegaFon - also have places in the top 10 due mainly to their operations in Russia.
And its not just Russian companies benefitting from growth in Eastern Europe - TeliaSonera is seeing its subsidiaries in Russia (where it holds 43.8 per cent of MegaFon) and Ukraine (20.52 per cent of Life) outgrow its traditional Nordic markets in terms of connections, if not value.
It's a similar situation at Telenor and Mobilkom Austria Group.
Vodafone remains the largest operator group in Europe by some distance as a result of its presence in the big five Western European markets, despite the fact it is not a market-leader in any of them.
Rank, Operator, Proportionate Connections*
1. Vodafone Group, 129,728,367
2. MTS Group, 79,559,400
3. Deutsche Telekom Group, 78,465,065
4. France Telecom Group, 70,284,110
5. Telefonica Group, 62,252,921
6. VimpelCom Group, 58,101,112
7. Telecom Italia Mobile, 35,310,000
8. TeliaSonera Group, 35,186,097
9. MegaFon Group, 33,944,833
10. Telenor Group, 25,927,289
Source: Wireless Intelligence
*% of total connections based on group ownership
