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Popular operators
We classify popular cellular operators as follows: 1) operators with the largest subscriber base, 2) operators that are often advertised and actively increase their subscriber base.
| Brand | Logo | Number of subscribers* | Website | Company (legal entity) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MTS |  |
30% (78.8 million) | www.mts.ru | PJSC MTS |
| Megaphone |  |
29% (76 million) | www.megafon.ru | PJSC Megafon |
| Beeline |  |
21% (54.3 million) | www.beeline.ru | PJSC VimpelCom |
| Tele 2 |  |
18% (45.9 million) | tele2.ru | T2 RTK Holding LLC |
| motive |  |
< 1% | motivtelecom.ru | LLC "EKATERINBURG-2000" |
| Rostelecom |  |
< 1% | www.rt.ru | PJSC Rostelecom |
| MTT |  |
< 1% | mtt.ru | OJSC "MTT" |
| Tinkoff Mobile |  |
< 1% | mobile.tinkoff.ru | Tinkoff Mobile LLC |
| SberMobile |  |
< 1% | sbermobile.ru | Sberbank-Telecom LLC |
* Information about the number of subscribers is taken from the official reports of companies. The last data check is early 2020.
There are four major cellular operators: MTS (Mobile TeleSystems), Beeline (Vympel-Communications), Megafon, Tele2 (T2-Mobile). They have the largest number of subscribers and operate in all (or most) regions of the country. In some regions of the country, coverage is provided by renting a network of local operators. In the 2000s, the name of the "big three" (MTS, Beeline, Megafon) was popular. Since the mid-2010s, the concept of the “big four”, which included Tele2, has been more often used. Tele2 Russia is owned by Rostelecom.
The rest of the cellular companies have a much smaller customer base and coverage area on the territory of the Russian Federation. Among them are well-known SberMobile, Tinkoff Mobile, MTT, Rostelecom, Yota. The latter was previously known as an Internet provider with a 4G network in Moscow, but since 2014 it has been actively advertised as a new player in cellular communications. In October 2013, MegaFon fully acquired Scartel LLC and Yota LLC, which hold 4G/LTE licenses. Since September 2016 JSC Yaroslavl-GSM has been merged with PJSC MegaFon.
At the end of 2017, a new mobile operator Tinkoff Mobile was added. The operator was created in partnership with Tele2: it works as a virtual operator and uses Tele2 technical equipment. The operator is related to Tinkoff Bank and is actively advertised by it.
In 2018, SberMobile, a mobile operator from Sberbank, was launched. The licenses were obtained back in 2016, but in fact, advertising began in 2018, the operator's services became available to any Russian.
Statistics
At the beginning of 2023, according to the Ministry of Digital Development, more than 80 companies providing cellular services in Russia were registered. According to information from operators' websites, the total number of subscriber numbers exceeds 250 million. Many mobile operators in Russia are public and provide communication services to the population on a commercial basis. Any citizen can become their client. Small operators were created solely to provide cellular communications between employees of government organizations and institutions. An ordinary citizen cannot become their client.
List of all operators
We list all mobile operators in alphabetical order, indicating the codes and the number of telephone numbers allocated to the operator. The allocated numbers are the number of numbers that the operator can use. It does not mean the actual number of subscribers of the company.
| No. | Operator | Codes | Numbers allocated |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AKOS | 902, 950, 952, 994 | 828 000 |
| 2 | Joint Stock Company ATOMDATA | 939 | 50,000 |
| 3 | Joint Stock Company Krymtelecom | 978 | 101 000 |
| 4 | Joint Stock Company Tander | 901 | 28 500 |
| 5 | Antares | 900 | 1,000,000 |
| 6 | APEX | 901 | 60 000 |
| 7 | Arcturus | 900 | 500 000 |
| 8 | ASVT | 997 | 1 999 493 |
| 9 | Astran | 933 | 100,000 |
| 10 | UNLIMITED | 930, 934, 939, 958, 980, 984, 986, 992, 993, 994, 995 | 161 000 |
| eleven | Beliton | 955 | 1000 |
| 12 | Beeline | 900, 902, 903, 904, 905, 906, 908, 909, 930, 933, 950, 951, 953, 960, 961, 962, 963, 964, 965, 966, 967, 968, 969, 980, 9 83, 986, 994 | 133 345 000 |
| 13 | BIT CENTER | 955, 997 | 607 |
| 14 | Vainakh Telecom | 995 | 300 000 |
| 15 | ViKom | 958 | 300 |
| 16 | Voentelekom | 985 | 13 000 |
| 17 | VTB Mobile | 933, 996, 999 | 908 500 |
| 18 | Gazprom telecom | 900, 901, 958 | 179 300 |
| 19 | Global Telecom | 958 | 2,000,000 |
| 20 | GLONASS | 941 | 10,000,000 |
| 21 | GLONASS MOBILE | 958 | 1000 |
| 22 | G Ti En Ti | 954 | 30,000 |
| 23 | IC SIBINTEK | 901, 986, 992 | 20 000 |
| 24 | Integral | 900 | 500 000 |
| 25 | Internod | 901, 930, 932, 933, 939, 958, 966, 967, 968, 969, 977, 978, 980, 981, 984, 991, 995, 996, 999 | 344 900 |
| 26 | Iridium Communications | 954 | 150 000 |
| 27 | K-telecom | 958, 978 | 1 801 000 |
| 28 | CountryCom | 958 | 7600 |
| 29 | Quantek | 958 | 20 200 |
| thirty | QuatroPlus | 955 | 750 |
| 31 | TransTeleCom Company | 958 | 875 394 |
| 32 | KROMIX | 969 | 10,000 |
| 33 | CPC TELECOM | 958, 978 | 2,231,000 |
| 34 | Lycamobile | 901, 969, 977, 985, 989, 992, 995 | 700 500 |
| 35 | Lardex | 955 | 300 |
| 36 | MATRIX telecom | 939, 958, 969, 980, 993, 999 | 69 200 |
| 37 | MGTS | 958, 985 | 800 000 |
| 38 | Megaphone | 902, 904, 908, 920, 921, 922, 923, 924, 925, 926, 927, 928, 929, 930, 931, 932, 933, 934, 936, 937, 938, 939, 950, 951, 9 58, 999 | 136 729 002 |
| 39 | Media Market | 958 | 100 |
| 40 | metro pay | 958 | 20 000 |
| 41 | MiATel | 901, 902, 908, 912, 924, 930, 931, 938, 939, 952, 953, 958, 985, 991, 992, 994, 996 | 112 057 |
| 42 | Miranda media | 978 | 10,000 |
| 43 | motive | 900, 902, 904, 908, 950, 952, 953, 977 | 3,810,000 |
| 44 | MSN Telecom | 931, 958, 993, 995 | 85 000 |
| 45 | MTS | 901, 902, 904, 908, 910, 911, 912, 913, 914, 915, 916, 917, 918, 919, 950, 958, 978, 980, 981, 982, 983, 984, 985, 986, 9 87, 988, 989 | 175 758 370 |
| 46 | MTT | 901, 902, 904, 908, 912, 919, 923, 924, 930, 931, 932, 933, 934, 936, 938, 939, 958, 961, 963, 966, 967, 968, 969, 977, 9 80, 981, 982, 983, 984, 985, 986, 988, 989, 991, 992, 993, 994, 995, 996, 999 | 5 663 600 |
| 47 | New mobile communications | 967, 977, 984, 993, 996 | 1 490 500 |
| 48 | NCI | 923 | 10 |
| 49 | OBIT | 933, 958 | 22 000 |
| 50 | Orange Business Services | 970, 971 | 40 |
| 51 | PIN | 958 | 100 |
| 52 | Plintron | 901 | 150 000 |
| 53 | PORLAMAR | 978 | 10 300 |
| 54 | RECONN | 958 | 1000 |
| 55 | RETAIL INNOVATION | 958 | 200 |
| 56 | Rostelecom | 901, 902, 912, 930, 939, 958, 970, 971, 991, 992, 993 | 9 202 048 |
| 57 | SanSim | 958, 995 | 7400 |
| 58 | SberMobile | 901, 930, 932, 933, 938, 939, 958, 966, 977, 980, 989, 992, 993, 995, 996 | 4,828,000 |
| 59 | SVYAZRESURS-MOBILE | 933 | 20 000 |
| 60 | Sevastopol Telecom | 978 | 24 000 |
| 61 | SevTelecomCommunication | 978 | 1000 |
| 62 | SIM TELECOM | 900, 958, 999 | 521 000 |
| 63 | SYNTONIC | 977 | 100 |
| 64 | skynet | 966 | 100,000 |
| 65 | Scartel | 958, 991, 995, 996, 999 | 13 059 000 |
| 66 | Sonnet | 958 | 121 000 |
| 67 | Sprint | 923, 931, 932, 933, 934, 939, 958, 969, 981, 982, 983, 984, 986, 991, 992, 993, 994, 996 | 566 010 |
| 68 | Start | 958 | 15,000 |
| 69 | Surgutneftegaz | 956 | 300 |
| 70 | Tattelecom | 939 | 60 000 |
| 71 | TVE-TELECOM | 969 | 165 000 |
| 72 | Tele 2 | 900, 901, 902, 904, 908, 930, 950, 951, 952, 953, 958, 969, 977, 991, 992, 993, 994, 995, 996, 999 | 99 172 200 |
| 73 | Tinkoff Mobile | 993, 995 | 12 500 000 |
| 74 | TMT | 902, 904, 908, 939, 950, 958 | 1 419 990 |
| 75 | TRUSTEL | 901 | 30,000 |
| 76 | Trivon Networks | 958 | 18 000 |
| 77 | TRN-telecom | 955, 997 | 10 500 |
| 78 | TTK-Communication | 958 | 124 606 |
| 79 | FSUE Morsvyazsputnik | 954 | 10,000 |
| 80 | FSUE "GRCHTS" | 958 | 1000 |
| 81 | Center 2M | 958 | 51 000 |
| 82 | Number of groups | 901, 908, 923, 924, 930, 938, 939, 952, 953, 958, 969, 985, 992, 993, 994, 996 | 29 766 |
| 83 | ECO Networks | 956 | 4000 |
| 84 | EXPRESS MOBILE | 980 | 100,000 |
| 85 | Elemte-Invest | 978 | 100,000 |
| 86 | ER-Telecom Holding | 992 | 3400 |
| 87 | Unicel | 955 | 700 |
| 88 | UnitTelecom | 930 | 10,000 |
On the territory of Crimea, cellular communication services were provided by Ukrainian operators, whose mobile numbers corresponded to the Ukrainian numbering system (+380 XXX XXX XX XX). After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, there were no technical possibilities for a quick transition to Russian operators and switching to the +79xx number format. Organizational and legal issues also arose. The transition process took a long time, new codes were allocated. Until now, in the territory of Crimea, a number of services of mobile operators are provided with restrictions.
In the early to mid-2000s, there was an active attraction of new numbers due to the rapid emergence of new subscribers. Ranges were expanded for operators, new codes and series of codes were issued. Now there is an increase in the number of registered numbers for subscribers due to the use of SIM cards in various devices - phones, smartphones, tablets, routers. Up to 3-5 registered numbers for one subscriber is the norm. Thus, the tendency to increase the number of numbers remains, so new numbers and codes are involved.
original article in Russian https://codificator.ru/code/mobile/operators
