15.04.2008

• Asia: the global mobile investment hotspot until 2010 •

• Emerging Markets are Credit Crunch cushion: China, India and Russia fuelling growth •

• 3.3bn mobile phone owners: still half the world yet to dial in •

These are the key findings of the third Altimo Index (H2 2007) that evaluates the investment opportunities represented by 80 international mobile telecoms markets.

This Index was presented today at Total Telecom international telecoms conference in London by Sir Julian Horn-Smith, one of Altimo’s International Advisory Board members.

The Index is published by the Altimo Foundation, a non-profit organization established to promote the social investment initiatives of Altimo in emerging markets, in collaboration with professionals in economics from three leading institutions of the world: Cambridge University, London Business School, and New Economic School (Moscow). Based on mobile industry and macroeconomic data (such as expected growth in ARPU, EBITDA margins, GDP growth, populations, etc.) during the second half of 2007, the research team has generated an index which attributes investment ratings to the world’s mobile telecoms markets.

The third Altimo Index highlights the following trends within the global mobile communications market:

• Eastern and South Eastern Asian mobile markets remain most favourable for investors due to continued rapid user growth and mobile spending driven by strong macroeconomic performance. As with the first two indices, the third Index explicitly demonstrates this as a continuing theme. Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam occupy three of four top areas for investment in Asia.
   
• Growth in Southern Asia looks set to continue to 2010, with India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh occupying top ten positions. However, the total rating of Southern Asia is flattening due to high competition in the Indian market.
   
• The CIS region remains an attractive target for mobile investments in the medium-term. Despite the region’s largest markets (Russia and Ukraine) approaching saturation and intensifying competition, operators are expected to increasingly profit from the growth in value-added services.
   
• Most developed economies in North America and Europe are reliant on new mobile products to grow since their markets have saturated with penetration above 90%.
   
• The investment outlook for most African mobile markets is poor to medium in the short-term, due to weak commercial and political stability. However, oil exporting countries as well as those with strong economic growth such as Algeria, Mozambique, Egypt and Angola show impressive growth in output and private spending, thus increasing penetration, revenues and profit margins of mobile operators.
   
• At the end of 2007, the world’s mobile industry has reached 50% penetration level, which means that over 3.3 billion people now own a mobile phone.
   

Kirill Babaev, Altimo Foundation CEO, concluded:

"The Altimo Index clearly outlines that the current slowdown in the US and other highly developed countries is cushioned by robust growth in emerging economies. Altimo’s focus on these markets has enabled it to double its assets’ value to $30 billion last year, and as this Altimo Index shows, there are still plenty of opportunities within less developed mobile markets in the near future. "

ENDS

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