Communications and Technology Industry Research

Research from Wireless Intelligence shows that total revenues generated by mobile operators in Western Europe reached 155 billion Euros last year, a 3.32 percent growth from the prior year.

 

In 15 European countries, cellular revenues represent 1.5 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In most countries, mobile revenues have been growing faster than GDP, which demonstrates that the telecom sector has proven to be resilient to the general economic downturn.

 

“In 2008, we expect to see a similar relatively healthy growth in mobile revenues,” says Joss Gillet, senior analyst at Wireless Intelligence, the global database of mobile market information.

 

Wireless Intelligence is part of GSM Media, a wholly-owned subsidiary of GSMC Limited, the organization behind the GSMA Mobile World Congress (News - Alert). Founded in 1987, the GSM Association (GSMA) is a global trade association representing more than 700 GSM mobile phone operators across 217 territories and countries of the world.

 

According to the research, non-voice revenues appear to be driving growth as voice revenues remain under strong pressure. As market penetration continues to rise, mobile operators are looking at increasing revenue share and focusing on customer retention.

 

In Western Europe, the top five operator groups (Vodafone (News - Alert), Orange, T-Mobile, Telefonica O2 and TIM) generated revenues of 106.6 billion Euros, or 69 percent of the total revenues for the region. In markets such as Germany, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria, cellular revenues have decreased year on year, partly due to new European roaming regulations, domestic regulations, weakened ARPU, and decline in effective voice price per minute.

 

“Operators are now focusing on revenue stimulation and fighting churn through key competitive factors such as: price elasticity, network coverage, loyalty policy, quality of services, value added services and market segmentation, which includes MVNO development,” Gillet concludes.