In Russia’s landline services, the most important participant is the state monopolist Svyazinvest, presently going through a major reorganization. This company is a result of the Soviet national telecommunication monopoly, and even now, it holds the controlling share of the Russian telecommunication market.

In the early 1990s, the Soviet Communications Bureau (Ministry) discontinued most of its telephone ventures, keeping only its regulatory operations. Yet, the ministry did not leave the market entirely and kept its prevailing share in Svyazinvest. Svyazinvest manages 82 of the Russia’s 87 local telephone operators and holds a minority share in the remaining five. It owns more than 90 percent of the Russia’s local landline infrastructure.

However, Soviet Union left Svyazinvest with more of its telephone infrastructure than it could manage and Svyazinvest began leasing a part of it to other companies. Some of these telephone service operators grabbed the opportunity to grow and some even became strong competitors to Svyazinvest. Analysts say that, presently, Svyazinvest holds 60 percent of the landline telecommunication market, and independents own 40 percent.

There are three main mobile network companies in Russia: BeeLine, Megafon, and MTS. The services, prices, and coverage provided by these companies are rather alike. Mainly they offer voice and text services. The networks cover most cities and rural regions in European part of Russia. They cover main Siberian cities, as well. There are some areas, like small villages, that have no coverage at all. They are so-called “blank spots.”

In addition, a number of local operators provide services in local networks. They do not generally offer national services, and phone calls outside their networks are very expensive. For instance, the local operator BaikalWestCom (Irkuts) offers service only in Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude. To call via their network to Moscow would be very expensive. When travelling in Russia, using mobile phone services is a good idea, since it is usually much cheaper than calling from a hotel room.