Coronavirus has revolutionized the wired Internet

The covid-19 pandemic has revolutionized the wired internet market. Firstly, its penetration into private houses in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region has grown significantly, operators say. Secondly, the collective efforts of operators to defend their interests have led to the fact that the state has become more attentive to the development of this market and postpones the implementation of “inadequate solutions,” market players say.

private revolution

According to Veronika Shaduro, General DIRECTOR of STI Solution LLC, in the third wave of the pandemic, it seems that the commitment of citizens to wired Internet has finally been established. “This year, a large proportion of citizens have realized the need for high-quality Internet. If last year someone else tried to use the mobile Internet, now the hopes for its improvement have finally melted away. The growth of connections among families with schoolchildren is especially noticeable,” says Veronika Shaduro.

Sergey Kuznetsov, development director of Asarta, a company specializing in the private sector (98% of clients are individual houses), confirms the growth in connections of individuals. “According to the results of the previous two months, we reached the indicators of 2020, that is, twice again. As a result, by 2019, we have grown almost 4 times over the two pandemic years. In our segment, the pandemic has revolutionized - if earlier the penetration rate of wired broadband Internet in private homes was on average 10%, then by the end of 2021 we expect 25%. This is the average for the Leningrad region, and in some villages it already reaches 60%, ”says Sergey Kuznetsov.

The trend is also associated with the growing trend of deurbanization - the process of migration not to the city, but from the city. Over the past year, according to the Petersburg Real Estate Center, the number of transactions with houses and plots in cottage settlements has almost doubled. And in the first half of 2021, the growth in demand in organized suburban development (cottage settlements), according to the chief editor of the weekly "Real Estate and Construction of St. Petersburg" Dmitry Sinochkin, amounted to approximately 40-50%.

In the segment of summer residents, the penetration rate is about 20%, and among people living in private homes all year round (the share of St. At the same time, the most important factor, in addition to the solvency of the population, he calls the level of infrastructure development.