PBX - Office PBXs (Russian Market)

Unified Communications (Russian Market)

Main article: Unified Communications Unified Communications (Russian market)

2022: Growing demand for virtual numbers

In 2022, Russians began to buy virtual numbers for registration on foreign services. On February 20, 2023, Vedomosti wrote about this trend with reference to Yandex statistics, as well as data from the Grizzly SMS and cloud telephony SMS activation service Novofon.com.

We are talking about services that allow you to rent a mobile operator's number in another country for several minutes or hours, the publication clarifies. In the second half of 2021, the number of user requests for the phrase "virtual number" was 690,000, and in the second half of 2022 it increased to 1.1 million, follows from the data of the Yandex.Vordstat service. Interest in the service jumped in March 2022, but the main growth occurred precisely in the second half of the year: in June 2022, the number of requests was at 116,000, and in December of the same year it increased to 231,000.

The demand for virtual numbers has existed for a long time, but in 2022 it grew

Grizzly SMS manager Igor Gordienko confirmed that from June to December 2022, the service's traffic increased sevenfold. The most popular in January 2023 were the activation of accounts in Telegram, WhatsApp, Tinder and OpenAI, which developed ChatGPT, he listed.

The representative of Tele2 told Vedomosti that the number of users who issued a virtual number increased in the second half of 2022 by 49% year-on-year. The representative of Beeline said that so far such a service is available only for corporate clients.

The issue of the legality of such services is "ambiguous," said the source in one of the big four operators. There is no direct violation here, since this is the sale of services of foreign operators, which is not regulated by Russian laws, he explained. According to the source, the market for services for the sale of foreign virtual numbers both for calls and for receiving SMS is "in a gray zone with the prospect of blackening until the start of blocking sites with sales."^[1]

2021: Market growth by 30.8%, to 17.7 billion rubles - TMT Consulting

The volume of the Russian virtual PBX market in 2021 reached 17.7 billion rubles, an increase of 30.8% compared to 2020. Moreover, the dynamics increased - in 2020, the growth rate was measured at 23.3%. This is evidenced by the data of the analytical company TMT Consulting, published on March 10, 2022.

According to the study, in 2021 the number of companies using virtual PBX services in Russia increased by 12% and reached 400.8 thousand. Higher market growth in monetary terms than in kind, the researchers associated with:

The Russian market for virtual PBXs began to grow even faster

• integration of "Mango Office" customers of the collectoring company acquired in 2020 into the VATS platform, CallTouch
• transition MegaFon"" from the classical system of calculations for ON to the non-taxable VAT form of calculations in connection with the inclusion of the operator's VATS in; register of domestic software
• active introduction of additional paid services on the basis of VATS by operators,
• growth of connections to the virtual PBX of large companies.

The largest expenses for such services still fall on Moscow, whose market share in 2021 was 35% against 38% a year earlier. At the same time, the shares of the Far Eastern, Siberian, Volga, Ural and Southern federal districts increased.

Trading sector companies accounted for about 34% of the costs of VATS services in Russia. The share of companies providing various services increased to 14% in 2021, and the share of the public sector increased. The share of client companies connecting more than 50 users to VATS is gradually growing, the report says.

Analysts attributed the following to the main trends in the Russian virtual PBX market:

• consolidation,
• expanding the geography of the presence of players,
• introduction of omnichannel communications,
• development of the functionality related to remote work of employees,
• development of voice services,
• providing business automation services based on VATS (collectoring, analytics,
• Customer Services)
• growth in the number of solutions for big business,
• replenishment of the list of VATS integrations with various business systems,
• increased number of robotic solutions,
• development. API

The market leaders in terms of income are Mango Telecom and MTS Group, which includes MTS, MGTS and MTT, acquired in 2021. Mango Telecom takes into account revenue from CallTouch collectoring, taking into account which the operator's revenue in 2021 amounted to 4.8 billion rubles. The company also continues to expand its geographical presence and improve the technological functionality of the virtual PBX. MTS revenue in 2021 amounted to 5.1 billion rubles. At the same time, the company also takes into account revenues from solutions for large businesses (multifunctional IVR, auto call service, communication restriction service outside the permissible period, etc.).

In terms of the number of client companies, Mango Telecom ranks second, MTS - third. The top three in terms of income includes Rostelecom, which also ranks first in terms of the number of customer companies - in 2021, the operator's increase in customer companies was the highest among the largest players - 20%. In 2021, the operator focused on connecting companies in the regions, as well as on the development of additional services - such as speech analytics, voice assistants, colltracking, mobile VATS.

According to forecasts of TMT Consulting, the volume of the Russian virtual PBX market will grow by about 12.2% per year and will amount to 31.5 billion rubles in 2026. And the number of client companies in this market will reach about 618 thousand.

TMT Consulting Virtual PBX Market Research

2020: TMT Consulting: The volume of the Russian VATS market has grown to 13 billion rubles (+ 19%)

Despite 2020, difficult for business, ros­sy­sky the market vir­tu­al­nykh of automatic telephone exchange (VATS) showed two-digit growth rates of both natural indicators, and monetary. TMT Consulting According dan­nym "," in 2020 ko­liches­tvo kom­pa­ny - kli­en­tov uve­lichi­los by 11% and dos­tiglo 359 thousand. Ob­em ryn­ka vy­ros by 19% srav­ne­niyu on 2019 and rub sos­ta­vil 13 billion.

As noted in the TMT report, the share of income attributable to software (VATS licenses, revenue from additional services organized with the condition of connecting VATS) amounted to 53%, respectively, the share of revenue attributable to the telephone component (traffic and number fees) - 47%.

According to TMT, Rostelecom is the leader in the number of client companies, the growth in this indicator in 2020 was 28% compared to the previous year. The operator's revenue increased by 32%, which moved it from third to second place in terms of revenue. The growth of the operator's subscriber base in 2020 was facilitated by the Home Office campaign, which provided a significant influx of new VATS customers. In 2020, Rostelecom launched voice services - speech analysis, voice assistants, call tracking.

The market leader in revenue in 2020 remains Mango Telecom, whose revenue increased by 11% compared to 2019, which is facilitated by the expansion of the geography of the operator's presence, the launch of new services and solutions such as voice bots, a robot analyst, a robot marketer, an integration control center, as well as an improvement in the voice analytics module. In terms of the number of VATS customer companies, the company ranks second - the growth in 2020 amounted to 1.4%. To strengthen its market position, the company acquired the Calltouch service in September 2020.

The sources were the data of the companies, as well as the estimates of TMT. Consulting About 30% of the increase in the number of client companies was demonstrated in 2020 by operators, MTS"" and VimpelCom"." MegaFon MegaFon also showed high revenue growth of 27%. The volume of the VATS market, taking into account revenues from hybrid solutions that combine a client PBX with an PBX through a trunk cloudy , according to TMT Consulting estimates, in 2020 increased by 17.5% and amounted to 16 billion rubles. MTS in these market contours comes in second place in terms of revenues after Mango Telecom. At Moscow the end of 2020, the share of income in the leading region decreased by 2 percentage points. and amounted to 38%. At the same time, shares increased,,,. FEFD VOLGA FEDERAL DISTRICT SOUTHERN FEDERAL DISTRICT SFD

In 2021, TMT Consulting conducted an additional study to analyze the technological implementation of virtual PBX platforms. Among large VATS providers, 54% use vendor solutions (the leader in the number of implementations is ITooLabs), 31% use open source solutions and 15% use their own developments. Large players are increasingly using Russian vendor solutions in order to import substitution, reduce sanctions and currency risks.

In the next five years, according to TMT Consulting forecasts, the market growth rate will gradually decline, the average annual growth of the VATS market in Russia will be 14%. It is expected that in 2025 its volume will approach 25 billion rubles, and the number of client companies will exceed 590 thousand. Market players will continue regional expansion, VATS-based solutions for medium and large businesses will be developed, related to hotline support and remote work of employees. Voice analytics services, voice assistants, combining VATS with call tracking services will continue to improve. The list of integrations with various business systems and the number of robotic solutions will grow.

According to TMT Consulting forecasts, in 2021 the VATS market will maintain double-digit growth rates both in terms of income and in-kind indicators.^[2]

2019

Market growth 39% to 11 billion rubles - TMT Consulting

The volume of the Russian virtual PBX (VATS) market in 2019 reached 11 billion rubles, which is 39% more than a year earlier. Taking into account the income from hybrid solutions that combine a client PBX with a cloud PBX through a trunk, according to the results of 2019, it grew by 35% and amounted to 13.1 billion rubles. This is evidenced by the data of the TMT Consulting agency.

According to experts, the number of companies using virtual PBXs in 2019 increased by 23% and amounted to 328 thousand. Analysts give leadership in the market in terms of the number of customers to Rostelecom for the second year in a row. The operator's revenue from virtual PBX services in 2019 increased by 57%. The company develops such services among customers in the segments of micro, small and medium-sized businesses.

The first place in terms of revenue from sales of virtual PBX services in Russia at the end of 2019 was again taken by Mango Telecom. Its revenues in the market rose by 24%, which was facilitated by the development by the operator of a full-fledged solution of unified communications and tools for automation, including for medium and large businesses. In terms of revenue in the market under consideration, Rostelecom took third place in 2019, skipping MTT ahead as well.

MTT revenues in the market increased by 56% in 2019. One of the most popular services of the operator was the FMC service, integrated with CRM and allowing you to automate the work of remote employees, the study says.

A significant increase in both revenue (by 36%) and client companies (by 34%) occurred in 2019 at VimpelCom. This was facilitated by the implementation of the package offer of Bright Business mobile services with a free cloud PBX connection, the implementation of VATS integration with external PBXs via SIP and the ability to connect VATS to city numbers, as well as new tariff plans for SIP telephony.^[3]

Data from J'son & Partners Consulting

In the period 2014-2018. the VATS market in Russia showed a steady growth in volume in monetary terms. However, if in the period 2015-2017, according to an updated estimate, the market growth rate accelerated from 25% in 2014 to 41% in 2017, then in 2018 this trend turned around - the growth rate slowed down to 29%.

According to J'son & Partners Consulting (Jason & Partners Consulting), in 2019 the Virtual PBX market in physical terms (number of subscribers) grew by 30%, and in monetary terms reached 8 billion rubles, having increased by only 15% compared to 2018. Thus, for the first time in the entire period of observations, the growth rate of the VATS market fell below 20%, which is fully consistent with the forecast made for the results of 2018.

The industry structure of consumption is still dominated by trade and service enterprises, in horizontal - consumption from small enterprises, in territorial - from enterprises located in Moscow and the Moscow region.

The VATS market is the largest type of SaaS in Russia that is not regulated by the state in terms of penetration, only the web EDO segment has more penetration in terms of mandatory reporting services in electronic form. Therefore, VATS became the first segment of the SaaS market in Russia to exhaust primary growth factors.

To resume solid growth, the VATS market needs to change the appearance of the existing product offer, since the lack of technical ability to differentiate QoS between different subscribers and individual VATS functions leads to blocking further rapid penetration growth and limits VATS consumption to relatively small market segments.

2018: TMT Data Consulting

According to TMT Consulting estimates, in 2018 the volume of the virtual PBX market in Russia increased by 35% compared to 2017 and amounted to 7.9 billion rubles. At the same time, in natural terms, the market increased by 45%, the number of client companies reached 267 thousand. The largest increase in the customer base in relative indicators in 2018 was achieved by Rostelecom (almost 2 times), MegaFon (by 66%), Zadarma (by 61%), Yandex.Telephony (by 53%) and VimpelCom (by 37%).

The structure of the VATS market in 2018 by revenue and number of client companies is as follows:

Mango Telecom continues to be the market leader in revenue in 2018. The operator notes the preservation of high dynamics from voice traffic, as well as from the Call Processing Center and the Colltracking service launched in Q2 2017.

Rostelecom took the first place in terms of the number of client companies in 2018, for the first time ahead of the permanent market leader - Mango Telecom. This was facilitated by the introduction by the operator at the end of 2017 of package offers "Be in the Black," providing the opportunity to receive VATS services with a 50% discount, as well as the active promotion of VATS service in the regions.

If the VATS market includes revenues from hybrid solutions, within which a client PBX is connected to the VATS operator VATS platform by a trunk, according to TMT Consulting estimates, the market volume for 2018 amounted to 9.7 billion rubles, an increase of 31% compared to 2017. At the same time, MTS, which actively connects customer companies to the VATS platform, including PBXs, comes to the second place in terms of revenues, with a share of 17%.

At the end of 2018, Moscow continues to occupy a leading position among Russian regions - it accounts for 46% of revenues and 38% of client companies. This is followed by St. Petersburg, Ural and Volga FO - regions with a high concentration of business and a large number of offers from VATS providers. Shares of Moscow and St. Petersburg gradually are reduced due to the growing demand for the service in the regions, the active efforts of market players aimed at expanding the geography of presence and increasing awareness of the service outside large cities.

The main share of revenue from VATS services falls on companies from the segments of Trade (wholesale, retail and e-commerce) (33%) and Services/Service (17%). Interest in the service is gradually growing on the part of companies from the Real Estate, Production, Medicine, Transport and Logistics sectors, which is facilitated, among other things, by special industry solutions offered by operators.

2017: TMT Data Consulting

According to TMT Consulting forecasts, the volume of the virtual PBX market in the next 5 years will grow by an average of 19% per year and by 2022 will reach 15.3 billion rubles. The number of client companies will grow 2.7 times and approach 500 thousand.

2013: Data from J'son & Partners Consulting

According to J'son & Partners Consulting (Jason & Partners Consulting), the five leaders in PBX sales at ports in 2013 did not change (these are Panasonic, Avaya, LG, Asterisk/Digium, Cisco), and total PBX sales in 2013 amounted to 1.64 million ports.

According to J'son & Partners Consulting, the Russian PBX market in port sales in 2013 decreased by 11% compared to 2012. The decline in the PBX market is due to low purchasing activity of small and medium-sized enterprises, which is partly due to a slowdown in the growth rate of the Russian economy. In addition, the market is affected by competition with substitute services such as VATS.

Nevertheless Panasonic , it remains the undisputed leader in PBX sales in. Russia Also among the market leaders were companies, , Avaya/ LG Asterisk Digium, Cisco which took 13%, 10%, 7% and 5% in the overall structure of Russian PBX sales in 2012, respectively.

See also

• IP telephony (Russian market)
• IP Telephony (Home Page)
• IP Telephony Projects
• Enterprise Telephony Solutions (Global)
• PBX - Office PBXs (Global Market)

Notes