Ukraine's Mobile Penetration Approaches 85%

According to the State Statistics Committee, the number of mobile subscribers reached 39.44 mln as of the end of September, which corresponds to 84.4% mobile penetration (according to mobile operators penetration is 84.9%). Fixed line penetration is now at 24.3%. Alexander Paraschiy: TheUkrainian mobile market is approaching saturation and competition between mobile operators is growing. Growth in the mobile subscriber base in 9M06 of 33% is two times lower than a year ago. However, there is still some room for new market entrants: a year ago Astelit increased its subscriber base to 1 mln in February-September and this year BeeLine accumulated 0.94 mln subscribers in April-September. These statistics increase optimism for Ukrtelecom (UTEL: BUY), which is planning to start its own mobile network in early 2007.