July 30, 2009 -
PRLog -- BMI’s 2009 report on the Finnish telecommunications industry contains updated growth forecasts for the development of the country’s mobile, fixed-line, broadband, internet and 3G subscriber markets. We have made several structural changes to our report since it was last published in 2008. The changes include a reorganisation of the various sections of the report and the adoption of a new format for presenting the operator profiles. In 2008, the Finnish mobile subscriber base expanded by 13.1%. By the end of the year, the number of mobile customers had surpassed 6.9mn, giving the country a penetration rate of approximately 131%. Mobile customer growth in 2008 was considerably stronger than in 2007, when the subscriber base expanded by 7.6%. One reason for the stronger growth in 2008 is the emphasis which Finland’s mobile operators have been placing on the acquisition of prepaid customers. For example, during 2008, Finland’s mobile market leader, TeliaSonera, saw its prepaid customer base grow by over 39%, while the operator’s postpaid customers grew by just 6.7%. It is thought that much of the strong prepaid growth experienced by TeliaSonera relates to the mobile customers of MVNOs such as Tele Finland and Armas, which use TeliaSonera’
s network. Finland’s other two mobile network operators, Elisa and DNA, also reported strong prepaid customer growth in 2008. DNA in particular reported strong growth in the number of MVNO customers on its network. One of the reasons why prepaid user growth would help to push penetration well beyond the 100% threshold is that it tends to enforce the trend towards multiple SIM ownership, as well as higher inactivity levels. Based on these trends, we have revised our mobile growth forecasts for the next five years, predicting a much higher mobile penetration rate for Finland at the end of 2013. Meanwhile, the Finnish regulator FICORA has revealed that there were 479,700 wireless broadband subscribers at the end of 2008. This figure refers to the number of customers actually using wireless broadband services rather than the total number of customers with 3G handsets. Increasingly, Finnish mobile customers appear to be using their mobile broadband service as a substitution for a fixed broadband connection; the xDSL market has been particularly affected by this trend. Although the number of broadband connections based on cable, WiMAX and FTTH technology increased in 2008, the number of xDSL connections fell. As with Finland’s mobile market, recent developments in the country’s broadband market have led us to significantly revise our forecast for this sector. In November 2008, Finland’s government announced plans to invest up to EUR66mn (US$85.2mn) in order to increase broadband access speeds to 100Mbps for 100% of the population by 2016. This development has strong implications for the future evolution of Finland’s broadband sector. Finland sits in 13th place in BMI’s latest set of Business Environment rankings for Western Europe. In both the telecoms market and country structure categories, Finland scores well below average for the region. A significantly lower country risk score has also contributed to Finland’s weaker overall position.
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