In a bulky 140-page report, the Russian Ministry of Communications and Mass Media highlights an 8.4% total year-to-year growth of the ICT sector, particularly 14% in the IT field.
According to the report, the overall volume of the ICT sector in Russia totaled 1.9 trillion rubles ($68.6 billion) in 2010. Of the total ICT market, the telecommunications sector continued to account for the lion’s share (over 70%), with a volume of services totaling 1.35 trillion rubles ($48.4 billion). By contrast, the IT sector amounted to just 565.8 billion rubles ($21.2 billion) but showed a more dynamic pace of development—14%, compared to 6.2% for telecommunications, the report reads.
Among other interesting highlights, the Ministry reports that 237.8 million SIM cards were used in Russia in 2010.
The Ministry traditionally ignores inflation in its statistics. Adjusted for the inflation rate in 2010 (8.8%), the sector figures look less rosy, as the IСT sector failed to outpace the country’s 4% growth of GDP in 2010.
