Swedish Telecoms Market First half year 2019 · 2019-11-28 · The Swedish Telecommunications Market First half year 2018 Swedish Post and Telecom Authority 6 2 Mobile subscriptions

Report number

PTS-ER-2019:22 Date

11/25/2019

Report:

The Swedish Telecommunications Market First half year 2019

Swedish Post and Telecom Authority 2


Report number

PTS-ER-2019:22

Reference number

19-5750

ISSN

1650-9862

Author

Karin Fransén

Swedish Post and Telecom Authority

Box 5398 SE-102 49 Stockholm +46 (0)8-678 55 00 [email protected] www.pts.se


Contents

1 Introduction 4 Want to find out more? 4

2 Mobile subscriptions and M2M 6 Income from mobile subscriptions decrease with 2 per cent 6 Data traffic in the mobile networks continued to grow, but at a lower rate of

increase 7 Voice calls over 4G networks (VoLTE) continues to increase 8 Market share for mobile subscriptions 9 The number of SIM cards for M2M increased by 21 per cent 10

3 Fixed broadband 11 Fibre subscriptions continued to increase 11 Subscriptions for 100 Mbps and 1 Gbps download increased 11 Collective agreements, one in four of all private broadband subscriptions 12 Market shares for fixed broadband 13

4 Subscriptions for fixed line telephony 14 Subscriptions for fixed line telephony decreased further 14 Market shares fixed line telephony 14

5 Traditional pay TV subscriptions 16 The number of TV subscriptions decreases slowly 16 Market shares pay TV subscriptions 17

6 Bundled subscriptions 18 Bundled subscriptions 18

7 About the survey 19



1 Introduction

The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) has been tasked with monitoring service developments in the market for electronic communication, promoting competition within this market and providing information aimed at consumers. As a part of this assignment, PTS collects and publishes market data in this report, The Swedish Telecommunications Market.

The report Swedish Telecommunications Market is a descriptive report without analysis. PTS uses the statistics in the report in other analysis work within the authority’s area of responsibility. The Ministry of Enterprise and Innovations, other authorities, private and public companies, researchers, press, branch organizations and the public also use the statistics.

All figures refer to the situation on 30 June 2019, and comparisons are made with the same date in 2018 unless otherwise stated.

The survey was sent out to 82 organisations (operators, municipalities and other organisations). Of these, all 82 replied, giving a response rate of 100 per cent.

For more information about the survey, see Chapter 7.

Want to find out more?

On the PTS statistics portal (http://www.statistik.pts.se/), you can search for and sort statistics in the different areas. Data and market shares for the individual operators are also available. For further information, see the statistics portal and the appendices:

- tables with statistics - quality declaration, - change log with historical changes, - list of participants



Figure 1 A selection of results

1H 2019 1H 2018 Change

M obile subscriptions

Mobile voice and data - total (thousands) 14 318 14 184 1%

of w hich subscriptions w hich have used 4G (LTE ) 10 861 9 114 19%

of w hich data-only subscriptions 1 624 1 716 -5%

of w hich data and voice subscriptions 11 047 10 552 5%

of w hich voice only 1 647 1 916 -14%

Traffic for mobile data services (Tbyte) 604 817 491 943 23%

of w hich traff ic in 4G netw ork 537 771 426 652 26%

Revenues from mobile subscriptions - total (MSEK) 15 068 15 374 -2%

Private 10 542 10 775 -2%

Business 4 526 4 600 -2%

Number of SIM cards for M2M 14 307 11 814 21%

Internet services

Internet subscriptions (thousands) 16 666 16 171 3%

Broadband subscriptions 3 994 3 903 2%

via cable television 671 677 -1%

via f iber and f iber-LAN 2 754 2 510 10%

via xDSL 555 698 -21%

via Fixed broadband - Other 15 18 -17%

Fixed call services

Subscriptions for fixed telephony (thousands) 1 925 2 392 -20%

of which via IP-telephony (thousands) 1 176 1 388 -15%

TV services

Number of digital television subscriptions 2 838 2 862 -1%

Number of analogue television subscriptions 2 363 2 344 1%

Bundled services

Number of bundled subscriptions (thousands) 2 228 2 248 -1%

Key data



2 Mobile subscriptions and M2M

There were a total of 14.3 million mobile subscriptions on 30 June 2019, which was 1 per cent more than a year earlier (see Figure 2 below). The number of mobile subscriptions for both voice and data, which is often used on smart phones, was 11 million, an increase of 5 per cent compared to previous year. Mobile subscriptions for voice alone amounted to 1.6 million, which is 5 per cent less than the previous year. Mobile subscriptions for voice alone amounted to 1.6 million, a reduction of 14 per cent. 78 per cent of the total number of mobile subscriptions were contract subscriptions, the others were pay-as-you-go (cash cards). The proportion of contract subscriptions has increased steadily; 10 years ago the corresponding proportion was 60 per cent.

Figure 2 Number of mobile subscriptions

Income from mobile subscriptions decrease with 2 per cent

End user income from mobile subscriptions amounted to approximately SEK 15.1 billion. This is 2 per cent lower the previous year and the first time in many years when the end user incomes for mobile subscriptions are decreasing. 88 per cent of the income was fixed charges (subscriptions) and the rest variable charges. Income from fixed charges amounted to SEK 13.2



billion, an increase of 1 per cent. Variable charges fell by 18 per cent to SEK 1.9 billion.

Figure 3 Income from mobile subscriptions

Data traffic in the mobile networks continued to grow, but

at a lower rate of increase

Data traffic in the mobile networks increased to 605 Pbytes1 during first half-year 2019 (see Figure 4 below). This was an increase of 23 percent, which is a lower rate of increase than the previous period (30%). Private mobile subscriptions for calls and data drove traffic growth and generated an average of 7.0 Gbytes per subscription per month, which was an increase from 6.4 Gbytes the previous year. The average amount of traffic for a private data-only mobile subscription was 28.4 Gbytes per month, an increase from 17.5 Gbytes the previous year. The number of subscriptions that used data services in 4G networks continued to increase and amounted to 10.9 million, which is 77 per cent of all mobile subscriptions. Mobile subscriptions with 4G increased with 19 per cent compared to the previous year.

1 Peta = 10005



Figure 4 Data traffic in mobile networks

Voice calls over 4G networks (VoLTE) continues to increase

The number of outgoing voice traffic minutes from mobile subscriptions amounted to 18.3 billion in first half-year 2019. The number of call minutes via 4G networks (VoLTE) amounted to 7.4 billion, which corresponds to 41 per cent of all mobile call traffic. This can be compared with 20 per cent a year ago. The increase is at the expense of call traffic in 3G networks (UMTS), which is falling (see Figure 5 below).



Figure 5 Outgoing traffic minutes in mobile networks

The average length of a mobile call was 3.5 minutes and the average number of calls per mobile subscription per month was 68, which was at the same level as the previous year.

The number of SMS texts sent was 8.2 billion. For many years the number of SMS texts has decreased, but there has been a slight increase by 1 per cent since the previous year. On average 53 SMS texts were sent per subscription per month, which is the same level as the year before.

Market share for mobile subscriptions

Market share for mobile subscriptions includes mobile subscriptions for voice and data, mobile subscriptions for voice alone and mobile broadband for data alone. The four largest companies, Telia Company, Tele2, Telenor and Hi3G (Three), had 96 per cent of all subscriptions between them, which is the same level as the previous year.



Figure 6 Market share of mobile subscriptions per operator

The number of SIM cards for M2M increased by 21 per cent

There were 14.3 million SIM cards for M2M, which is an increase of 21 percent. The revenues from SIM cards for M2M was SEK 712 million, an increase of 28 per cent.

Services can be global, which means that not all Swedish M2M2 subscriptions are necessarily used in Sweden. Out of 14.3 million SIM cards for M2M, 3.6 million SIM were used in Sweden. The largest player in M2M in Sweden, Telenor Connexion, has reported that 1.4 million of their SIM cards for M2M have been used in Sweden, which is an increase 13 per cent from the previous year.

2 M2M refers to technology for wireless communication between different devices. Here, this refers to the M2M subscriptions that use mobile numbers. M2M solutions are used for, e.g., monitoring, measurement, control, transport and logistics.



3 Fixed broadband

Fibre subscriptions continued to increase

There were 4.0 million subscriptions for fixed broadband, which corresponds to an increase of 2 per cent. The number of subscriptions via fibre was 2.8 million. This is an increase of 10 per cent, which is a lower rate of increase compared to previous periods.

Fibre accounted for the greater part of the increase in fixed broadband and amounted to more than two-thirds (69%) of all fixed broadband subscriptions (see Figure 7 below). The number of fixed broadband subscriptions via cable TV networks amounted to 0.7 million (-1%), subscriptions via xDSL 0.6 million (-21%) and other fixed broadband 15,000 (-17%). Other fixed broadband includes fixed radio access, satellite and other fixed broadband.

Figure 7 Number of subscriptions or fixed broadband

Subscriptions for 100 Mbps and 1 Gbps download

increased

There were 3.0 million subscriptions with download speeds of 100 Mbps or more, which was an increase of 10 per cent. Three-quarters (76%) of all



subscriptions in Sweden have 100 Mbps or more, which was an increase from 71 per cent. Subscriptions of 1 Gbps or more have also increased. There were 27 per cent more than in the previous year and amounted to 132,000 subscriptions.

Fibre subscriptions with a download speed of 100 Mbps or more amounted to 2.5 million (an increase of 12 per cent), while subscriptions via cable TV networks with the same speed amounted to 579,000, which was a slight increase compared to the previous year.

Figure 8 Proportion of fixed broadband subscriptions by speed

Upload speeds are also increasing for fixed broadband subscriptions. The number of fixed broadband subscriptions with upload speeds of 100 Mbps or more increased by 19 per cent to 2 million.

Collective agreements, one in four of all private broadband

subscriptions

896,000 broadband subscriptions were stated to be collective agreements, which is an increase of 17 per cent. Collective agreements refers to active, private internet subscriptions with, for example, landlords, housing cooperatives, housing associations or village communities rather than directly



with the end customer. 23.5 per cent of the total number of private broadband subscriptions were via collective agreements.

Market shares for fixed broadband

Market shares for fixed broadband includes subscriptions on xDSL, cable TV, fibre, as well as satellite and fixed radio access. The three largest operators, Telia Company, Telenor and Tele2 (after the acquisition of Com Hem), accounted between them for 71 per cent of fixed broadband subscriptions. The five largest operators were Telia Company, Telenor, Tele2 including Com Hem, Bahnhof and Bredband 2, altogether accounting for 80 per cent of the subscriptions on fixed broadband.

Figure 9 Proportion of fixed broadband subscriptions by operator



4 Subscriptions for fixed line telephony

Subscriptions for fixed line telephony decreased further

There were 1.9 million subscriptions for fixed line telephony, which was a reduction of 20 per cent. Of these, 1.2 million or 61 per cent were subscriptions to IP telephony (see Figure 10 below). The number of call minutes from fixed line telephony subscriptions fell 17 per cent to 2.5 billion minutes.

Figure 10 Number of subscriptions for fixed line telephony

Market shares fixed line telephony

Telia Company had the largest market share in terms of fixed line telephony subscriptions, 51.3 per cent. The second largest was Tele2 with 17.7 per cent, followed by Telenor with 6.7 per cent. Tele2 have increased the share of fixed line telephony, after the acquisition of Com Hem.



Figure 11 Proportion of fixed line telephony subscriptions by operator



5 Traditional pay TV subscriptions

The number of TV subscriptions decreases slowly

There were 2.8 million digital TV subscriptions (via cable TV networks, satellite, terrestrial networks or broadband), which was 1 per cent less than the preceding year. The number of subscriptions for TV via fibre increased by 9 per cent to 1.2 million. Fibre is the largest digital distribution platform for digital pay TV subscriptions, accounting for 43 per cent of all digital pay TV subscriptions. All other pay-TV subscriptions, i.e. via cable-TV networks, terrestrial networks and satellite, decreased (see Figure 12 below). Subscriptions with landlords account for 45 per cent of all the fibre subscriptions.

The total number of analogue cable TV subscriptions (including SMATV3) was 2.3 million, which was an increase of 1 per cent. Many households in apartment buildings have an analogue cable TV subscription included in the rent, as well as a digital subscription. It is estimated that there are about 177,000 subscriptions via SMATV, which is a decrease of 10 per cent compared with the same date the previous year.

Figure 12 Number of pay-TV subscriptions

3 Satellite Master Antenna Television (SMATV) is an independent cable TV network where many households share an antenna.



Market shares pay TV subscriptions

The proportions for digital TV services are based on the number of pay TV subscriptions by digital distribution methods. The five biggest companies, Tele2 including Com Hem and Boxer, Telenor, Telia Company and Viasat4 accounted between them for 96.4 per cent of subscriptions, which is at the same level as the previous year. The largest operator, Tele2 including Com Hem and Boxer, decreased its share from 37.5 to 36.7 per cent. Telia Company and Viasat (Nordic Entertainment Group Sweden AB) increased with about 1 per cent and 0.5 per cent, respectively. Telenor decreased with 1 per cent.

Figure 13 Proportion of pay-TV subscriptions by operator

4 In the survey in the first half of 2018, Viasat stated a new name: Nordic Entertainment Group Sweden AB



6 Bundled subscriptions

Bundled subscriptions

The number of bundled subscriptions was 2.2 million, which is 1 per cent lower than at the same time the previous year. Although the number of bundled subscriptions decreased compared to first half-year 2018, the number remains significantly higher than in the period before 2017. The increase in 2017 was mainly due to changes in the definition of bundled subscriptions and to the fact that Telia Company reported 650,000 more bundles than in the previous year. 5 The company has indicated that the change in definition has affected reporting.

Telia Company, Com Hem, Telenor and Three together had 95 per cent of the bundled subscriptions.

Figure 14 Number of bundled subscriptions

5 The definition in previous surveys was "subscriptions offered and marketed as an offer or with a price list for the bundled services". Surveys from 2017 also included "services that are not marketed together as a special offer, for example when an end customer buys two or more services separately, may be on different occasions".



7 About the survey

The Swedish Telecommunications Market is Sweden’s most important operator surveys on subscriptions, income and data traffic in the fields of broadband (fixed and mobile), calls (fixed and mobile) and traditional TV services.

The survey is carried out twice a year: first half and full year. This report is for the first half-year 2019 and, as in previous years, is based on PTS’ own data collection. The statistics have been collected with the aid of an online questionnaire. The selection for the Swedish Telecommunications Market was based partly on the selection of organisations in previous years and partly on organisations of which PTS has been notified according to the Act (2003:389) regarding electronic communication (LEK).

The survey for full year 2018 was sent out to all 606 organisations (operators, municipalities and other organisations), notified at PTS. To reduce the respondents burden, the first half-year survey is only sent to the largest organisations, that is, the organisations that together account for at least 97 per cent of the subscriptions and income in the fields of broadband (fixed and mobile), calls (fixed and mobile) and traditional TV services. All respondents have an obligation to provide information.

The survey for the first half-year 2019 was sent out to 82 organisations (operators, municipalities and other organisations). The previous first half-year survey was sent to 62 organisations. Of these, 82 replied, giving a response rate of 100 per cent. The values for organisations left out of this survey has been estimated, based on their responses in the survey for the full year 2018. The number of participants in the survey is increasing annually.

However collection and adjustment of operator data continues after the report the Swedish Telecommunications Market has been published, so that the PTS database for operator statistics is always updated.

All figures refer to the situation on 30 June 2019, and comparisons are made with the same date in 2018 unless otherwise stated.

Swedish Telecoms Market First half year 2019 · 2019-11-28 · The Swedish Telecommunications Market First half year 2018 Swedish Post and Telecom Authority 6 2 Mobile subscriptions

Documents