Telecoms & IT
From The Report: Mongolia 2015
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Since it was liberalised in the early 1990s, Mongolia’s telecommunications sector has grown rapidly. As of the first half of 2014 the four major mobile operators reported more than 4.3m registered users in total. This figure is considerably higher than the population, which means many residents own more than one SIM card. Increases in mobile penetration have facilitated rapid technological improvements across all four mobile operators, as well as steadily rising competition. Given the growth potential in the data segment, local players are looking forward to rising revenues. Indeed, Mongolia’s nascent ICT industry – which overlaps considerably with the telecoms sector – is in the early stages of what many local firms expect to be a period of considerable innovations. Despite broader challenges facing the country, the domestic technology industry is regarded as a strategic growth area and the government has made a concerted effort to encourage the sector to invest in expansion. With this in mind, most local players see a bright future for Mongolian ICT.

This chapter contains interviews with Ts. Jadambaa, Chairman, the Information Technology, Post and Telecommunications Authority; and R. Ganbold, CEO, Unitel; and a viewpoint from P. Margad-Erdene, Executive Director, ICN LLC.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Rapid mobile phone uptake in recent years has set the scene for growth in data services for Mongolia’s telecoms sector
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Since it was liberalised in the early 1990s, Mongolia’s telecommunications sector has grown rapidly. As of the first half of 2014 the four major mobile operators – MobiCom, Unitel, Skytel and G-Mobile – reported more than 4.3m registered users in total, according to the country’s telecoms regulatory agency, the Communications Regulatory Commission of Mongolia (CRC). This figure is considerably higher than the population at the end of 2014 – estimated at 3m by the National Statistical Office…

Interview

OBG talks to Ts. Jadambaa, Chairman, the Information Technology, Post and Telecommunications Authority (ITPTA)
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Interview: Ts. Jadambaa What are the ITPTA’s goals for the further development of Mongolia’s ICT sector? TS. JADAMBAA: Over the past two years, the ITPTA has been working on completing seven primary goals for the sector: launching a national satellite programme, building an effective e-government services platform, ensuring adequate internet connectivity, changing from analogue to digital broadcasting for both radio and television, creating more highly paid technology jobs, developing internationally…

Interview

R. Ganbold, CEO, Unitel
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Interview: R. Ganbold How are changing trends in mobile usage impacting the profitability of the telecoms industry? R. GANBOLD: Subscriptions have grown rapidly over the past decade. In terms of traditional telecom services, such as voice and SMS, the market is nearing saturation, with a penetration rate in excess of 100%. While usage growth for these services is beginning to decline as a result, it has been offset by an explosion in data consumption. The industry sees this acceleration as a positive…

Analysis

Rural connectivity: Boosting telecoms usage outside the capital is a government priority
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Mongolia’s status as the single least populous country in the world – according to recent census data the nation has a population density of 1.76 people per sq km – has presented a wide variety of challenges for the development of telecommunications systems. The cost of extending a fixed-line network into the nation’s vast rural areas – many of which are covered in mountains or empty desert – is out of reach for all but the largest telecoms operators, and ensuring return on investment…

Interview

Building capacity: P. Margad-Erdene, Executive Director, ICN LLC, on the challenges of network extension
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The deployment of the fibre-optic cable network in Mongolia requires a huge amount of investment, as the country has a vast territory and a scattered population. To that end, the government of Mongolia has undertaken several master plans, programmes and projects to develop the ICT sector. The deployment activities for the backbone of the fibre-optic network are progressing step by step, with different funding sources, including foreign aid, loans and the state budget. The installation of the fibre-optic…

Overview

Roll-out of new technologies in Mongolia’s IT sector have continued to grow in recent years
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Over the past five years, Mongolia’s ICT industry has experienced rapid growth. As of the first half of 2013 the nation was home to more than 1m internet subscribers, up from fewer than 200,000 as of the end of 2010, for example. As in many other nascent technology markets around the world, the majority of this growth has taken place in the mobile segment. Almost 80% of subscribers accessed the internet via their mobile handsets in 2013, according to the Communications Regulatory Commission of…

Analysis

Efforts to support local entreprenurs in Mongolia’s IT sector facilitating domestic content production
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While the overall number of internet users in Mongolia grew eight-fold from 2009 to mid-2014 – from just over 100,000 to more than 1m, according to the Communications Regulatory Commission of Mongolia (CRC), the nation’s telecommunications regulatory organisation – most locals spend their time online at foreign websites. As of mid-2014 Mongolian internet content was rare. According to recent statistics from SimilarWeb, an Israel-based data analytics company, the top six websites in Mongolia…