Simon Baker has specialized in the telecommunications markets in Russia and Eastern Europe since the early 1990s. At IDC Russia, he covers the market for mobile handsets in Russia and across the CIS and is responsible for expanding IDC CEMA handset research across all of Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

A former journalist, Baker edited a magazine in London on the European satellite industry and applications in telecommunications and television. He later worked as a market analyst for a major telecommunications operator in Paris, then as an industry consultant.

Baker holds an MBA from Henley Management College in the U.K., and a B.A. in philosophy and literature. He speaks Russian, French, and German.