13 - 15 April 2027Crocus Expo — Moscow
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Despite external pressure, the Russian telecommunications market continues to grow dynamically
In the modern digital world, telecommunications play a vital role, connecting people, businesses, and government agencies. In recent years, the Russian telecommunications market has weathered several serious storms, but despite this, it has continued to develop dynamically. Below we will tell you about its main indicators and trends.
The Russian telecommunications market has been showing steady growth over the past six years. According to Rosstat estimates, the turnover of companies operating in this sector reached record levels at the end of 2023 – 2.6 trillion rubles. This is almost 10% more than in 2022. The reason for this trend was both the rising cost of services and the growth in profitability of a number of promising digital areas.
The growth driver was the mobile communications segment, which accounts for about 60% of all company revenues. At the same time, this segment (along with the Internet and digital television) is at a stage of maturity: in the conditions of a highly competitive and saturated market, as well as the limitation of the increase in the cost of services, it is unlikely to expect significant growth in this segment in the future. Given the general decline (including a decrease in the number of subscribers) in the telephony segment, the main driver of growth in the telecommunications market in the coming years will be the area of digital services, which include cloud solutions, software development, and cybersecurity solutions. Similar trends are recorded among leading market players, in particular, PJSC Rostelecom and PJSC MTS.
One of the most serious challenges of the last two years has been the need to find alternatives to equipment and software that were supplied by companies from Europe, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea that have now left the Russian market. And if at the moment this problem was solved by equipment supplies from China and parallel imports, then in the medium term import substitution and development of our own solutions are becoming increasingly important. Moreover, since 2022, the growth of domestic equipment and software has increased. Of course, this has to a certain extent entailed an increase in costs. However, there are also positive factors: the largest players in the telecommunications market have entered new segments for themselves (for example, equipment development), which have become free due to the cessation of work of foreign companies.
Thus, PJSC Rostelecom this year not only replaced the equipment in its own data processing centers with domestic equipment, but also presented independently developed and manufactured base stations to the general public. In turn, over 200 products and technologies developed by PJSC Rostelecom have been included in the Unified Register of Domestic Software.
In the coming years, we should expect a cooling of the trend of telecommunications market players creating their own ecosystems. In general, this segment has already reached the saturation stage, when the largest participants have long ago created their ecosystems, and smaller and new players do not yet have the opportunity and resources to create new breakthrough solutions. In addition, clients are becoming more and more discerning and it is becoming more difficult (and, importantly, more expensive) to attract them.
The question that causes heated discussion is whether telecommunications and IT companies are competitors, or is there a possibility of synergy between them? On the one hand, the boundaries between the IT and telecommunications markets are gradually being erased. Moreover, there is a tendency for large players in the telecommunications market to solve IT problems with the help of internal resources (separate divisions within the company or subsidiaries). On the other hand, attracting IT market leaders or young and promising companies allows not only to obtain high-quality expertise, but also to acquire image advantages.
An important factor is the significant role of the state in the telecommunications market. The authorities not only set the "rules of the game" and regulate it, but are also a major investor and customer. Thus, in 2023, the volume of state financing of infrastructure telecommunications projects exceeded 426 billion rubles, and this is a record figure. Among the key projects, it is worth noting the digitalization of education and healthcare, as well as the large-scale Smart City program.
The development of the Russian telecommunications market, as well as the need to find alternatives to products of departed brands, dictate the demand for equipment and software. And in the conditions of today's dynamic world, one of the most effective and fastest ways to establish productive partnerships is to participate in large-scale industry events. These include the International Exhibition of Information Technologies and Solutions for Digital Transformation ExpoCifra 2025 , within which a separate section will be devoted to equipment, solutions and services for the telecommunications market. It is worth noting that at the annual international electronics exhibition ExpoElectronica 2024, within which the IT and digital solutions section debuted, 1,348 specialists expressed interest in equipment, solutions and services for telecommunications.
If your company provides telecommunications services, is a manufacturer or supplier of various equipment (systems, units, modules, antennas, base stations, etc.), and is also ready to offer the market telecommunications solutions (virtual PBX and IP telephony, solutions for digitalization of various processes), then participation in the International Exhibition of Information Technologies and Solutions for Digital Transformation ExpoCifra will allow you to find new clients, expand the geography of sales, and also promote your own products or services.