Additionally, as part of CS' regional program with Commercial Service offices in Scandinavia and the Baltics, CS St. Petersburg will be happy to share your Gold Key inquiry with these offices, who may contact you directly. Roughly 160 specialists from 18 countries attended the conference. Top speakers included government officials, senior managers, Russia's largest telecom operators and equipment manufacturers, international institutions, and professional advisors. Presentations from these specialists provided an overview of the market and examined prospects for its development. The number of mobile users is expected to reach 4.5 million by mid 2001.
Evidence shows that the market is in line with global trends while exhibiting some national trends.
Overall, it is recovering from the 1998 financial crisis as telecoms move away from the deployment of new technologies and focus instead on offering new services. Meanwhile, new technologies and services are rapidly transitioning to broadband, wireless, and integrated technologies and services. As a matter of course, demand for these new services in turn calls for development of new technologies. Furthermore, many telecom operators are expanding into the regions beyond the traditional markets of Moscow and St. Petersburg. In 2000, Nordic companies were the most active investors, especially in the cellular arena.