Kyrgyzstan: Mobile Communication Research Report 2009

Kyrgyz Mobile Phone Services Market remains one of the most commercially viable and perspective Industries.

Income from mobile phone services has grown 41 % in 2006 and 68 % in 2008. Last year it amounted to 280 million US dollars; profitability forecasts are: 380 million US dollars in 2009 and 470 million US dollars in 2010.

For a number of years, the mobile phone services market remains one of the most perspective markets in Kyrgyzstan. In 2008, fixed-line telephone services traffic tended to overflow into mobile phone services, which is confirmed by an increased share of income from mobile phone services in the total income from telecom services in the country. The market's dynamic development is evidenced by cut-throat competition which facilitated the entry of new mobile phone service providers, which set higher client service standards.

These data have been addressed in the mobile phone services market research conducted jointly by MGN Capital and Kalikova & Associates Law Firm. This research, the primary audience for which is external and internal investors, reports on the market share of each telecom company, size of the industry, level of competition, income and ARPU projections, and relevant laws regulating this industry.

Kyrgyzstan's telecommunication industry is amongst the most competitive and dynamic in Central Asia. In the past few years the competition has heated up with the entry of new mobile communication operators that have not only challenged the status quo but set higher standards for services and value to the customer. The advent of new technologies such as 3G has increased the pressure on the existing companies to constantly upgrade and update their services.

Kyrgyzstan has ten registered mobile service providers of which six are in operation. Every year the competition is tougher for the less solvent groups of the population and the average revenue per user (ARPU) is on the decline. As of April 1, 2009 there are three GSM operators (BiMoCom, Sky Mobile and NUR Telecom), one D-AMPS operator (Katel) and two CDMA operators (AkTel and Sotel).