This report provides an overview of the broadband markets and key players in the main Eastern Europe countries.

Broadband in Eastern Europe is rapidly gaining momentum, driven by increasing competition and more widespread deployment of DSL and/or cable services.

Poland and Russia have exhibited the highest levels of absolute growth over the previous six-year period. As a proportion of households, Internet penetration is highest in Poland, with Czech Republic and Slovakia also showing rapid adoption.

Hungary is currently leading Eastern Europe in terms of broadband penetration. Ukraine continues to be relatively undeveloped in terms of Internet and broadband penetration, largely due to poor Internet infrastructure, and low availability of residential broadband.

Broadband availability is gradually improving across most of Eastern Europe, with higher levels of bandwidth and improving geographical coverage. Bandwidth in excess of 5Mbit/s is now available in Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia and Ukraine. Within the broadband market, DSL is gaining increased momentum, most notably in Slovakia and Russia, whilst the prevalence of UPC is driving cable in some key areas. Ukraine is an exception to this, where Volia has enabled cable to overtake DSL for the first time.

The state of Eastern Europe’s telecommunications differs significantly across the region, with a mix of aluminium, copper, fixed-wireless and fibre networks. In many of these countries, we are seeing significant fixed-to-mobile substitution, largely due to low fixed line penetration in some countries.

The majority of networks are copper-based, but in a number of countries legacy aluminium networks are still used for communications services. We have a spurt of municipal fibre deployments, but these have been relatively few and are typically not extended beyond the initial group of residents.

Due to the relatively low fixed-line penetration in much of Eastern Europe, we see an opportunity for fixed-wireless access, at least in the short term. The demand for advanced content is limited, which would deem FWA a good alternative for basic data, and even VoIP services.

Table of contents

Broadband overview: Eastern Europe

Regional overview and analysis

Czech Republic

Country overview and analysis
Key figures
Key broadband players
Regulatory environment

Hungary

Country overview and analysis
Key figures
Key broadband players
Regulatory environment

Poland

Country overview and analysis
Key figures
Key broadband players
The regulatory environment

Russia

Country overview and analysis
Key figures
Key broadband players

Slovakia

Country overview and analysis
Key figures
Key broadband players
Regulatory environment

Ukraine

Country overview and analysis
Key figures
Key broadband players
The regulatory environment

Table of figures

Figure 1 Internet growth by country
Figure 2 Internet penetration by country
Figure 3 Broadband penetration by country
Figure 4 Price of broadband by country
Figure 5 Broadband markets by technology, 2006
Figure 6 Broadband market development 2005–2010
Figure 7 Internet connections
Figure 8 Broadband subscribers by technology
Figure 9 Broadband pricing of top two operators
Figure 10 Czech Republic in figures
Figure 11 Top-level broadband figures for Czech Republic
Figure 12 Broadband player subscribers (000s)
Figure 13 Telefónica O2 Czech’s residential DSL offerings
Figure 14 UPC Czech’s residential broadband offerings
Figure 15 Internet connections
Figure 16 Broadband subscribers by technology
Figure 17 Broadband pricing of the top three operators
Figure 18 Hungary in figures
Figure 19 Top-level broadband figures for Hungary
Figure 20 Broadband player subscribers (000s)
Figure 21 T-Online’s (Magyar Telecom) residential broadband offerings
Figure 22 Emitel’s (Magyar Telecom) residential broadband offerings
Figure 23 UPC Hungary’s residential broadband offerings
Figure 24 Internet connections
Figure 25 Broadband subscribers by technology
Figure 26 Broadband pricing of the top two operators
Figure 27 Poland in figures (000s)
Figure 28 Top-level broadband figures for Poland (‘000s)
Figure 29 Broadband subscribers (000s)
Figure 30 TP’s residential broadband offerings
Figure 31 UPC Poland’s residential broadband offerings
Figure 32 Internet connections
Figure 33 Broadband subscribers by technology
Figure 34 Broadband pricing of the leading operator
Figure 35 Russia in figures
Figure 36 Top-level broadband figures for Russia (000s)
Figure 37 Broadband subscribers (000s)
Figure 38 MTU-Intel residential broadband offerings
Figure 39 Internet connections
Figure 40 Broadband subscribers by technology
Figure 41 Broadband pricing of the top operator
Figure 42 Slovakia in figures (000s)
Figure 43 Top-level broadband figures for Slovakia
Figure 44 broadband player subscribers (000s)
Figure 45 Slovak Telecom’s residential broadband offerings
Figure 46 Internet connections
Figure 47 Broadband subscribers by technology
Figure 48 Ukraine in figures
Figure 49 Top-level broadband figures for Ukraine (‘000s)
Figure 50 broadband player subscribers (000s)
Figure 51 UKR Telecom residential broadband offerings
Figure 52 Volia Telecom residential broadband offerings