Original telecommunications market research and telecommunications sector trend analysis for the national telecommunications industry.

Competitive intelligence, regional telecommunications company rankings and SWOT analyses on international and domestic telecommunications companies.

The Report provides industry professionals and researchers, operators, equipment suppliers and vendors, corporate and financial services analysts and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on the national telecommunications industry.

" The Asia Telecommunications Report is used for benchmarking industry views against BMI's independent forecasts; for market research and analysis of industry trends. It also provides competitive intelligence on leading companies. "
Chi-Wen Tsai, Managing Director, ROHDE & SCHWARZ Taiwan Ltd

Key Benefits of Report

-Benchmark BMI's Independent 5-Year Telecommunications Industry Forecast to test other views - a key input for successful budgeting and strategic business planning in the national telecommunications market.
-Target Business Opportunities & Risks in the Telecommunications Sector through our reviews of latest industry trends, regulatory changes, and major deals, projects and investments.
-Exploit Latest Competitive Telecommunications Intelligence & company SWOTS on your competitors and peers through company rankings by sales, market share, investments and leading products and services.

Executive Summary
Summary of BMI's key industry forecasts and trend analysis, covering ICT, fixed-line, mobile and internet markets, and headline news of key industry events from the latest quarter.

Market Overview
At-a-glance outlook of the structure, size and value of the industry, including an overview of key players and a snapshot of regional penetration rates for fixed-line, mobile and internet markets.

Business Environment Rankings
BMI provides a cross-border analysis of telecoms regulatory systems across regional markets, and their investor prospects, discussing the merits and downfalls of each country's business environment, and ranking them in order of competitiveness. The rankings take into account industry factors, such as Market Maturity, Growth Potential, Competitive Environment and Licensing Framework in addition to BMI's political and economic risk ratings.

BMI 5-Year Industry Forecast
Historic data series and 5-year forecasts to end-2012 for all key industry indicators (see list below), supported by explicit assumptions, plus analysis of key downside risks to the main forecast.

Fixed-Line Telephony - Telephone Lines ('000); Telephone Lines/100 Inhabitants;
Cellular Telephony - Phone Subscribers ('000); Mobile Phone Subscribers/ 100 Inhabitants; Mobile Phone Subscribers/100 Fixed Line Subscribers;
Internet Markets - Internet Users ('000); Internet Users/100 Inhabitants; Broadband Internet Subscribers ('000); Broadband Internet Subscribers/100 Inhabitants;
Multimedia Markets - PCs ('000); PCs/100 Inhabitants; TV households ('000s); Pay-TV subscribers ('000s); Pay-TV subscribers/100 inhabitants; Cable TV subscribers ('000s); Direct-to-Home Subscribers ('000s)
BMI 5-Year Macroeconomic Forecast
BMI forecasts for all headline macroeconomic indicators, including real GDP growth, inflation, fiscal balance, trade balance, current account and external debt.

Competitive Landscape & Rankings
Commentary on key operators highlighting ownership structures, latest available revenue figures, market share analysis and ARPU counts.

Company Profiles & SWOTS
Company profiles, including SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analyses, fully researched senior executives and contact details, business activity, leading products and services, and a record of all recent foreign direct investments and projects.

The Sector At A Glance

Key Insights On The Telecomunications sector of Central Asia

Central Asia remains a key target for foreign investment, with the region's telecoms markets proving to be particularly attractive to Russia's larger mobile operators. Although penetration rates, across the region, remain very low by European standards, BMI's latest forecast projections - which have been updated to cover the period ending 2011 - emphasise the continuing emergence of increasingly mature markets over the next few years. Our most notable forecast alterations relate to Tajikistan's mobile market, which we believe to have been larger than our previous estimates at the end of 2006.

Investment opportunities in the region's fixed-line sectors are limited, despite the tremendous scope that exists for expanding the quality, range and availability of fixed-line, data and internet services. In all five markets, fixed-line infrastructures and service provision remain dominated by state-controlled incumbent operators. The sale of strategic stakes in Uzbektelecom, Tajiktelecom and Kyrgyztelecom has been anticipated for some time now, although no detailed plans have been released, which would suggest imminent privatisation proceedings. Meanwhile efforts to liberalise the region's telecoms markets continue, although progress is often slow and, at times, hindered by unhelpful intervention by state-owned regulators. Further liberalisation and the introduction of greater competition are two of the requirements for future WTO membership, which is currently being negotiated by Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. As the region's fixed-line sectors enter the next phase of liberalisation - which will include the opening to competition of domestic long distance and international voice telephony - more opportunities for strategic investors should emerge.

Compared with the sluggish pace of change in the region's fixed-line markets, the transformation which has affected the region's mobile markets has been fast-paced and dramatic. All five markets have benefited to varying degrees from foreign direct investment, with Russian operators MTS, VimpelCom and MegaFon acquiring and rebranding operators across the region. Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have all seen the arrival of new mobile operators in recent months, while additional operators are expected to enter the Tajik and Kyrgyz markets in the near future. Kazakhstan remains the most developed market, with nearly 8mn subscribers at the end of 2006, compared with 2.7mn in Uzbekistan and less than 233,000 in the smallest and least developed market, Turkmenistan.

According to BMI's recently updated Business Environment Rankings, Uzbekistan remains the market with the greatest growth potential, with a large population, and expectations of strong service growth driven by competition and rising incomes. In contrast, Turkmenistan's mobile market is shared between just two operators, and mobile services continue to be expensive for a large proportion of the population. The affordability of services has traditionally been a problem in Tajikistan too, although the government there has been on a drive to boost competition. Tajikistan's larger mobile operators are already offering 3G services and, in 2007, the sector is expected to see the arrival of an 11th mobile operator.