The new powerhouses of Central Asia

Several of the 11 developing telecom markets of Central Asia are going through a boom time the include: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. BuddeComm has published a new report on this region for more info see: 2008 Asia – Telecoms Mobile and Broadband in Central Asia

Key highlights:

Armenia’s mobile market was growing at an annual rate of 80% in late 2007, with newcomer K-Telecom passing the one million subscriber mark and grabbing two-thirds of the market;
The current economic boom in Azerbaijan continued (GDP growth of 29% in 2007) and mobile penetration passed 50% with growth continuing at around 40% per annum.
Bhutan’s telecom sector remains underdeveloped with mobile penetration still below 10%. The country moved towards a democratic system of government with elections in early 2008; the hope was that this would bring significant structural reform to all sectors of the economy;
In Georgia, the telecom regulator awarded a third 3G mobile licence, creating further interest in a market that had remarkably passed 50% mobile penetration by late 2007;
Kazakhstan’s mobile market has been characterised by a prolonged surge in subscribers, reaching 13 million (a penetration of 75%) by early 2008, up from only 1.3 million in 2003.
Kyrgyzstan, the first Central Asian Republic to be admitted to the WTO, continues to work on reforming the telecom sector; mobile subscriber growth exceeded 100% in 2007;
With the launch of two new mobile operators, Unitel and G-Mobile in 2006 and 2007 respectively, mobile subscribers in Mongolia passed 1 million going into 2008, representing an annual growth of just under 50%.
Nepal Telecom initiated an ambitious program in 2007 to increase total telephone penetration (fixed plus mobile) to 20% by 2010; the plan came as Nepal entered a more stable period politically; the mobile market is growing at an annual rate of around 140%;
With a population of just over 7 million, Tajikistan’s busy mobile sector (7 operators) continued the major growth surge that started in 2006; the subscriber base jumped by more than 100% in 2007.
Compared with most of the other Central Asian markets Uzbekistan’s mobile penetration of 20% towards end-2007 was modest; however the year saw subscriber growth exceed 120%.