subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 36.78 (2019 est.)
total subscriptions: 27,674,128
subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 19.38 (2019 est.)
Telephones - mobile cellular
total subscriptions: 529,497,242
subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 117.70 (2019 est.)
total subscriptions: 239,795,946
subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 167.9 (2019 est.)
Internet country code
.eu; note - see country entries of member states for individual country codes
.ru; note - Russia also has responsibility for a legacy domain ".su" that was allocated to the Soviet Union and is being phased out
Internet users
total: 398.1 million (2018 est.)
percent of population: 85%
total: 114,920,477
percent of population: 80.86% (July 2018 est.)
Telecommunication systems
note - see individual country entries of member states
general assessment:
telecom market is largest in Europe, centered in large cities; competition active in Moscow and St Petersburg; most users access Internet through mobile platforms; fiber broadband sector is growing, supported by government in aim to extend reach to outlying regions; tests of 5G with Moscow adopting smart city technology; government justifies censorship and website blocks under a range of laws and regulations; government program aims to provide 97% of households with fixed broadband by 2024; publicly accessible Internet connections in institutions such as hospitals, libraries, schools, and mass transit available in cities; in rural areas, the availability of public Internet connections remains limited; major importer of broadcasting equipment and computers from China (2021)
(2020)
domestic: cross-country digital trunk lines run from Saint Petersburg to Khabarovsk, and from Moscow to Novorossiysk; the telephone systems in 60 regional capitals have modern digital infrastructures; cellular services, both analog and digital, are available in many areas; in rural areas, telephone services are still outdated, inadequate, and low-density; 22 per 100 for fixed-line and mobile-cellular 164 per 100 persons (2019)
international: country code - 7; landing points for the Far East Submarine Cable System, HSCS, Sakhalin-Kuril Island Cable, RSCN, BCS North-Phase 2, Kerch Strait Cable and the Georgia-Russian submarine cable system connecting Russia, Japan, Finland, Georgia and Ukraine; satellite earth stations provide access to Intelsat, Intersputnik, Eutelsat, Inmarsat, and Orbita systems (2019)
note: the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on production and supply chains globally; since 2020, some aspects of the telecom sector have experienced downturn, particularly in mobile device production; many network operators delayed upgrades to infrastructure; progress towards 5G implementation was postponed or slowed in some countries; consumer spending on telecom services and devices was affected by large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes; the crucial nature of telecom services as a tool for work and school from home became evident, and received some support from governments
Broadband - fixed subscriptions
total: 158,303,562
subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 35.19 (2019 est.)
total: 32,857,614
subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 23.01 (2019 est.)
