The 'rest of Europe' region – essentially non-western Europe – has continued to see a decline in its communications sector since 2010, according to greenfield investment monitor fDi Markets. From 2010 to 2015, the region recorded a 65.9% decrease in this sector, with a fall in project numbers from 123 to 42. Russia topped the table for destination countries with 111 projects in this period, followed by Poland with 67 and Romania with 56.

Capital investment also fell, to $1.06bn of in 2015 compared with $3.79bn in 2010, a decline of 72%. New jobs created fell by more than half, with 4096 recorded in 2015 compared with 10,082 five years before.

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fDi Markets tracked 320 communications projects out of 504 to come from western European companies between 2010 and 2015. The US topped the charts overall, after investing $1.65bn in 68 projects.

ICT and internet infrastructure ranked first among communications projects for business function, but in line with the overall trend from 2010 to 2015, projects in this area fell by 81%. A downward trend was also observed in all business functions, though design, development and testing did experience a slight increase from six to 14 projects in 2012. However, this figure fell to five in 2013.

Of those tracked, 58.1% of companies citied domestic market growth potential for their decision to invest in the rest of Europe, 29% cited skilled workforce availability and 25.8% proximity to markets or customers.

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