The Mobile Economy Russia & CIS 2020

This latest report from GSMA Intelligence highlights how 4G became the CIS region’s leading mobile technology in 2020 and will account for 65% of total connections by 2025. With lower cost handsets increasingly available across the region, smartphone adoption is set to reach more than 80% by 2025. With Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia expected to launch 5G during 2021, and 5G networks in the region’s other nine markets set to go live by 2025, GSMA Intelligence forecasts that there will be 52 million 5G connections across the CIS region by 2025. 

The report looks at key trends shaping the digital landscape in the CIS region, exploring 5G, IoT, the telco of the future, and media & entertainment. It also examines how the mobile ecosystem employed over 830,000 people in 2019 and contributed $14 billion to public sector funding.

The research argues that policymakers can play a leading role in making 5G a reality, through the development of a comprehensive roadmap for the release and renewal of spectrum. Ensuring the effective management of valuable spectrum resources will be crucial to providing certainty, encouraging investment and maximising the opportunities that next-generation mobile connectivity can bring to the CIS region.