Mobile Broadband Market in CEE to Skyrocket over the Next Five Years, Finds Frost & Sullivan

LONDON, April 13, 2010 - Economic recession and restrictive market regulators' policies,
especially in terms of mobile termination rate (MTR) cuts, have been the most
negative factors affecting the mobile telecommunications market in the
Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region. Mobile telecom operators facing
revenue decline from traditional mobile services started to focus more on
mobile broadband development. Although CEE markets differ considerably in
terms of mobile broadband penetration, technologies, and network coverage,
the common point would be significant market growth expected within the next
five years.

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New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (www.wireless.frost.com),
Mobile Broadband in Central and Eastern Europe, notes that the market earned
revenues of euro 1.1 billion in 2009 and forecasts this to reach euro 5.2
billion in 2014. The service penetration is expected to grow from 2 per cent
to 10 per cent within the forecast period.

"Due to relatively low overall broadband penetration, mobile broadband
will be a complementary rather than supplementary service to fixed broadband
in CEE countries," says Frost & Sullivan ICT Research Analyst Edyta Kosowska.
"Therefore, mobile broadband operators should initially focus on improving
the service quality through sufficient network upgrades as customers expect
the same download speed and data download limits as from fixed broadband
internet. Only when achieved that, the operators should follow Western
European players' strategies and concentrate on developing wider range of
value-added services (VAS)."

The Frost & Sullivan study assesses the status of mobile broadband in
five CEE key markets: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia and
Slovakia. The analysis is based on key performance indicators and looks at
the way different mobile broadband technologies are evolving on those
markets. The technologies considered are: code division multiple access
(CDMA) revision A and revision B; flash orthogonal frequency-division
multiplexing (Flash OFDM), high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA), high
speed packet access plus (HSPA+), mobile worldwide interoperability for
microwave access (Mobile WiMAX) and long-term evolution (LTE).

"Most of the market participants start mobile broadband service
development from large cities' centres, where they can count on relatively
quick return on investment," states Edyta Kosowska. This move is still
economically justified, as the highest demand comes from people with
increased mobility needs such as company workers and students. "However, in
the near future, growth potential will be mainly visible within rural areas,
where overall broadband penetration remains relatively low. Therefore,
focusing on this target group can be a worthwhile consideration," adds
Kosowska.

Targeting population from the rural areas is a very good solution
especially in the EU countries. "First of all, companies implementing this
strategy can count on market regulators' favour, as it links directly with
the 'preventing digital exclusion' policy. Additionally, part of the
investment might be financed by EU funds," concludes Kosowska.

If you are interested in more information about this study, please send
an e-mail to Joanna Lewandowska, Corporate Communications, at
joanna.lewandowska@frost.com, with your full name, company name, title and
contact details.

Mobile broadband in Central and Eastern Europe is a part of the Market
Insights - Mobile Communications subscription, which also includes research
on Sustainability in Telecoms - Returns on Environmental Investments, An
Insight into the U.S. Mobile Video Content Services Markets, Exploring the
Use of Social Network Analysis (SNA) in the Telecommunications Industry,
European Content Delivery Networks, Multiple Options but no Clear Winner for
Voice and SMS over LTE, Mobile Communication Services in Healthcare - A CIO
Perspective, An Insight into the U.S. Mobile Financial Services Markets,
among others. These Market Insights are part of Frost & Sullivan Growth
Partnership Service.

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                  Mobile Broadband in Central and Eastern Europe
                                       9838

    Contact:
    Joanna Lewandowska
    Corporate Communications - Europe
    P: +48-22-390-41-46
    E: joanna.lewandowska@frost.com

www.frost.com

Joanna Lewandowska, Corporate Communications - Europe, Frost & Sullivan, +48-22-390-41-46, joanna.lewandowska at frost.com