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Finland Telecommunications Report Q4 2011
Business Monitor International, Oct 2011, Pages: 82
In the absence of new fixed-line, broadband and mobile telephony data from Finland’s regulator, FICORA, BMI’s quarterly update is based on new figures published by the country’s three major mobile operators, TeliaSonera, Elisa, and DNA. As operators’ figures were in line with their expectations, BMI has not altered its five-year forecasts for Finland's telecommunications market. BMI therefore continue to expect a marked contraction of the fixed-line market, a slowdown of fixed-broadband services, and single-digit growth in terms of total mobile subscriber numbers (the market is already saturated). Growth will emerge in the continued expansion of 3G markets and – increasingly – through demand for 4G speeds, as well as in the mobile broadband services market.
Competition is intense in Finland’s mobile market, with the latest data from the three largest operators showing that it climbed by 7.5% y-o-y to reach 8.964mn subscribers in Q211. The quarter has been characterised by pricing pressures: in June 2011, the three main operators agreed to cut mobile termination rates, effective from December 1 2011. In addition new cuts are scheduled for December 2012 that will remain in place until the end of November 2014. Margins are also being narrowed through special offers: TeliaSonera introduced lower roaming tariffs for clients travelling in Nordic and Baltic states in May 2011, while DNA introduced a new tariff – one it claims will enable subscribers to create a package tailor-made to their requirements. Other developments include a change to the Communications Market Act in May 2011, which means that subscribers can now port their mobile number to an alternative operator more easily, a move that should increase competition further as operators attempt to win subscribers with special offers.
In terms of mobile network development, following discussions with Russia, in August 2011 the Finnish government announced that it had reached an agreement with its neighbour to coordinate the use of the 800MHz spectrum band, a bandwidth that Finland plans to devote to higher speed mobile communications. The government claims it is currently drafting a resolution regarding the allocation of spectrum.
Turning to the fixed-line market, with no new regulator data, BMI can only assess the market from operators’ subscriber figures: TeliaSonera, Elisa, and DNA all posted losses in Q211. Fixed-broadband, meanwhile, fared slightly better – although only TeliaSonera managed to maintain subscriber numbers during the quarter. No data were made available on subscriber numbers by the Finnet Group.
By the end of BMIs forecast period in 2015, BMI believes the fixed-line market in Finland will reach a customer base of 1.032mn, resulting in a penetration rate of 18.9%, while fixed and mobile broadband subscribers will total 4.619mn by 2015, a penetration rate of 84.6%.
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