12 Jan 2012Belarus Broadband Overview

The government of Belarus started the process of restructuring the telecommunications sector in 1992, when it got a European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) loan of USD 38.8 million for the modernisation of its telecommunications network. This included deployment of the fibre-optic network and digitalisation of the telephone network.

The telecommunications market remains relatively closed to competition and still very much under the state control. Beltelecom, the incumbent operator, holds a state monopoly on the international communication channels. Competing companies are allowed to offer local phone services since there are no legal barriers for independent businesses to enter the local telephony market, but none have done so. One of the reasons for this is due to the Ministry of Economy setting very low tariffs for local telephone calls, which makes entry to the sector unattractive to private companies. More than 30 ISPs have been licensed, but few have actually begun commercial operations. This is so partly because all of them are dependent on Beltelecom’s national network for the dissemination of their services.

Internet penetration in the country started growing during 2011, not least because Beltelecom has extended its external Internet gateway. A significant expansion to 110 Gbps took place in April 2011. The gateway to Russia was expanded to 10 Gbps in August and will reach 20 Gbps by end-2011.These moves are expected to lead to the launch of new services and a significant decline in prices. Before the end of 2011, Beltelecom plans to expand its Internet gateway further to between 150 Gbps and 200 Gbps.