MGTS has become a leader in the growth of user base in Moscow, overtaking the country's largest Internet provider


    Source: TMT Consulting.

    Over the nine months of 2015, the number of broadband users in Moscow increased slightly - up to 4.2 million. The growth was less than 2%. According to the TMT Consulting agency , over the same time, the Moscow Broadband Telephone Network ( MGTS ) user base for broadband Internet access (broadband access) in Moscow increased by 55,000 (or about 5%) to 1.24 million. The Rostelecom subscriber base grew by 30,000 (4% growth) - to almost 800,000 subscribers. In the Moscow market MGTS was ahead of the largest operator in the country.

    An analyst with TMT Consulting, Kirill Tatus, calculated that in the third quarter of 2015, MGTS’s customer base growth was twice as high as that of Rostelecom. Thus, the MGTS base grew by 20,000 subscribers against the growth of 10,000 from a competitor.

    Compared to last year, the situation has changed significantly. In January-September 2014, the broadband user base in Moscow at Rostelecom grew by 90,000, and at MGTS - at 85,000. In Moscow, the subscriber base is growing only at Rostelecom and MGTS. The private broadband user base Akado has decreased by 0.1%, VimpelCom - by 0.2%, says Tatus. According to him, until mid-2015, Rostelecom was the fastest growing Moscow Internet service provider, since it was targeted at those houses where competition between providers was relatively small.

    But when all such houses were completed, the number of Rostelecom connections decreased. An intensive connection of subscribers in the new Moscow (territories that have become part of the city since July 1, 2012) could accelerate growth again, Tatus believes.

    Nevertheless, in the third quarter of 2015, the net growth of Rostelecom's subscriber base in Moscow was several times greater than a quarter earlier, the company spokesman Valery Kostarev noted - despite the slowdown in market growth. According to him, the transition to a single six-month accounting system for broadband users, which ended in the second quarter, had a positive effect.

    MGTS broadband user base has grown for the most part due to reconnection of subscribers of other operators to its GPON fiber optic network. This is because MGTS has one of the lowest tariffs in Moscow. In addition, GPON subscriber devices make it easy and quick to connect additional services, says Tatus.
    MGTS product marketing and product development director Dmitry Kulakovsky also explains the leadership in the number of connections in Moscow due to the high penetration of GPON in Moscow apartments, attractive package rates and improving the quality of services.

    In Russia as a whole, Rostelecom remains the leader in the growth of the user base. In the III quarter of 2015, it increased by 150,000 subscribers (compared to 66,000 in the II quarter). The second place is occupied by MTS (owned by MGTS), which added 65,000 subscribers against 5,000 a quarter earlier.

    From the end of July to the end of September, the broadband subscriber base in Russia grew by 330,000 users. Approximately 90% of the increase was in regions where incomes are less than average, while in 2014 and early 2015, the largest increase was recorded in Moscow, Tatus told Vedomosti.

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