The results of ICT development for 2016 were announced at the meeting of final collegium of the Ministry of Communications and Informatization, which was held on February 2, 2017.

As a result of the phased implementation of measures stated at the Program of activities of the Government of the Republic of Belarus for 2016-2020, as well as measures for the implementation of the State Program of the digital economy and information society development for 2016-2020, the following results have been achieved on the basis of work conducted in 2016:

• the number of fixed broadband Internet access subscribers within the country increased by 156 thousand subscribers and  was expected to reach 3.06 million on January 1, 2017;
• the number of IPTV subscribers - increased by 199 thousand subscribers and reached 1.51 million;
• the number of subscribers connected to the IMS-platform increased by 563 thousand subscribers and reached 1.81 million;
• the number of subscribers connected via GPON technology increased by 510.3 thousand subscribers and reached 1.09 million;
• the width of the external channel for access to the Internet increased by 137 Gbit/s and reached 1100 Gbit/sec;
• the number of subscribers and users of wireless broadband Internet access per 100 people is expected to reach 68 subscribers
• the "Smart Home" system, put into commercial operation in April last year, is used by more than 5 thousand subscribers

Cellular mobile telecommunication network of LTE standard and the services on its basis are actively developing. Currently, the services are provided in all regional centers and Minsk. LTE service coverage of population is 41.5 per cent. The average consumption of Internet traffic by LTE users amounted to 6.6 GB per a subscriber.

By the end of 2018, LTE technology will come to the regional centers and other settlements with a population of more than 50 thousand people. It is planned to build more than 1000 base stations.

It is worth mentioning, that the Republic of Belarus ranks 31st among 175 countries for ICT development index and 23rd among 195 countries for broadband access development. The country ranks 49th among 193 countries for the index of readiness for e-government, having risen by 6 positions during last 2 years.

Source: the Ministry of Communications and Informatization of the Republic of Belarus