2018 Ireland - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Last updated: 26 Feb 2018 Update History

Report Status: Archived

Report Pages: 147

Analyst: Henry Lancaster

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Summary
Table Of Contents

Publication Overview

This report provides a comprehensive overview of trends and developments in Ireland’s telecommunications market. The report analyses the fixed-line, mobile and broadband sectors. Subjects include:

Market and industry analyses, trends and developments;
Facts, figures and statistics;
Industry and regulatory issues;
Infrastructure developments;
Major Players, Revenues, Subscribers, ARPU, MoU;
Mobile Voice and Data Markets;
Broadband (FttP, DSL, cable, wireless);
Mobile subscribers and ARPU;
Broadband market forecasts;
Government policies affecting the telecoms industry;
Market liberalisation and industry issues;
Telecoms operators – privatisation, IPOs, acquisitions, new licences;
Mobile technologies (GSM; 3G, HSPA, LTE, 5G).

Researcher:- Henry Lancaster
Current publication date:- February 2018 (17th Edition)

Executive Summary

Ireland’s National Broadband Plan left with a single bidder

Ireland’s telecom market has emerged from a long period in which it had been held back by low broadband uptake and a poor economic climate which hindered investment among operators as well as spending among consumers. The country during the last two years has recorded one of the highest GDP growth rates within the European Union (EU), and this has reinvigorated the telecom sector. Operators including eir, enet and Vodafone Ireland (in cooperation with the utility ESB) have extensive fibre-based networks deployments in pace aimed at providing 1Gb/s services, while the government is poised to award a contract as part of its National Broadband Plan by which all premises are expected to receive a service of at least 30Mb/s by 2022. This Plan, requiring an investment of up to €600 million, will greatly boost the adoption of IP-delivered content, including e-government, e-health and e-learning. Although only enet remained among the bidders by early 2018 the government is confident that the Plan can be achieved to schedule.

The downward trend for overall telecom revenue after 2010 was reversed from 2015. Nevertheless, the sector remains under pressure, with a discouraging 1.1% fall in retail revenue in the third quarter of 2017, year-on-year.

The mobile market is dominated by Vodafone Ireland and 3 Ireland, followed at some distance by eir. The market has room for a small number of MVNOs, the largest of which is Tesco Mobile. Investment in network upgrades with LTE has been supported by additional spectrum releases in several bands, to be used for mobile data services. In mid-2017 spectrum in the 3.6GHz band was auctioned, greatly increasing the overall amount of spectrum available.

In recent years the broadband market has developed strongly, supported by an improving economic climate which has revived investment among the key players, as well as government efforts to improve wholesale access. Vodafone Ireland and Sky Ireland both have plans to increase the availability of 1Gb/s services.

This report provides statistics and analysis on the key sectors of the Irish telecom market, presenting an overview of the regulatory environment, the fixed network operators and services, and telecom infrastructure. The report also assesses the mobile market, including regulatory issues, a snapshot of the consumer market, emerging technologies, and the growth of mobile data. In addition the report covers the fixed and fixed-wireless broadband markets, together with developments in related technologies such as FttP, powerline broadband and mobile broadband. The report in addition provides mobile and fixed-line broadband subscriber forecasts to 2023.

Key developments:

French holding company NJJ and the telco Iliad together acquire a 64.9% stake in eir;
Vodafone an eir withdraw from National Broadband Plan tender;
Regulator rules that eir make fibre networks available to altnets;
SIRO trials reach 10Gb/s data rates;
VDSL connections grew 21% in the year to September 2017;
Virgin Media Ireland looks to expand 1Gb/s service;
Vodafone launches a commercial NB-IoT service;
Report update includes the regulator's market data to Q3 2017, telcos' operating and financial data to December 2017, recent market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report:

Eir, BT Ireland, Smart Telecom, Vodafone Ireland, O2, eMobile; Tesco Mobile, Virgin Media Ireland, Casey CableVision, Digiweb, SIRO, enet, Sky Ireland.

Henry Lancaster
February 2018

Key statistics

Country overview

Telecommunications market
Regulatory environment

Historical overview
Regulatory authority
Telecom sector liberalisation
Privatisation
Interconnect
Access
Leased lines
Fibre access
Number Portability (NP)
Carrier PreSelection (CPS)

Fixed network operators

Introduction
Eir
BT Ireland
Smart Telecom
Other operators

Telecommunications infrastructure

Overview of the national telecom network
International infrastructure

Submarine cable networks
Satellite networks

Broadband market

Introduction and statistical overview

Market analysis
National Broadband Plan
Government networks
Regional infrastructure
Wholesale bitstream
Broadband statistics
Forecasts – broadband subscribers – 2019; 2021; 2023

Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks

Alternative operators
VDSL
Vectoring DSL

Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks

Eir
SIRO
Sky Ireland
Other developments

Broadband Powerline (BPL)
Wireless broadband

1.7GHz band
10.5GHz band
3.5GHz band
Digiweb
National Fixed Wireless Point to Multipoint Licences (FWPMA)
Other developments
Other bands
Wi-Fi
Worldwide Interoperability of Microwave Access (WiMAX)
Wi-Fibre
Internet via satellite

Mobile communications

Market analysis
Mobile statistics

General statistics
Mobile voice
Mobile data
Mobile broadband
Forecasts – mobile subscribers – 2019; 2021; 2023

Regulatory issues

Spectrum regulations and spectrum auctions
Roaming
Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
Mobile termination rates (MTRs)
Wideband Digital Mobile Data Services (WDMDS)
Network sharing

Mobile infrastructure

Analogue networks
Digital networks
Machine-to-Machine (M2M) networks
Internet of Things

Major mobile operators

Vodafone Ireland
O2 Ireland
Eir
3 Ireland
MVNOs

Mobile content and applications

List of Tables

Table 1 – Country statistics – 2017 (e)
Table 2 – Telecom revenue and investment statistics – 2017 (9M)
Table 3 – Telephone network statistics – 2017 (e)
Table 4 – Internet user statistics – 2017 (e)
Table 5 – Broadband statistics – 2017 (Sep)
Table 6 – Mobile statistics – 2017 (e)
Table 7 – National telecommunications authority
Table 8 – Telecom sector retail revenue – 2012 – 2017
Table 9 – Market revenue annual change by fixed, mobile and broadcasting sectors – 2010 – 2017
Table 10 – Retail and wholesale revenue by sector – 2010 – 2017
Table 11 – Market revenue share by fixed, mobile and broadcasting sectors – 2002 – 2016
Table 12 – Unbundled loops and access lines – 2005 – 2017
Table 13 – Annual ported fixed-line numbers – 2010 – 2017
Table 14 – Indirect access lines: CPS and WLR – 2006 – 2017
Table 15 – Fixed-line and mobile voice traffic in minutes – 2008 – 2017
Table 16 – Fixed-line share of retail revenue by major operator – 2012 – 2017
Table 17 – Eir financial data (historic) – 2001 – 2007
Table 18 – Eir financial data (year to June) – 2009 – 2018
Table 19 – Eir revenue by sector (year to June) – 2009 – 2018
Table 20 – Eir subscribers by sector – 2010 – 2017
Table 21 – Smart Telecom financial data (historic) – 2003 – 2005
Table 22 – Historic - Fixed voice subscriptions in service and teledensity – 1995; 1997; 1999 - 2009
Table 23 – Fixed voice subscriptions and teledensity – 2010 – 2018
Table 24 – Market share of fixed voice lines by operator – 2012 – 2017
Table 25 – Average fixed-line broadband traffic by platform – 2015 – 2017
Table 26 – Broadband penetration by technology – 2006 – 2016
Table 27 – Broadband penetration of households by technology – 2013 – 2017
Table 28 – Dial-up internet subscribers – 2005 – 2016
Table 29 – Internet users – 2005 – 2018
Table 30 – Total fixed and mobile broadband subscribers – 2005 – 2017
Table 31 – Total fixed-line broadband subscribers – 2012 – 2017
Table 32 – Retail broadband revenue – 2014 – 2017
Table 33 – Total broadband subscribers by access type – 2002 – 2017
Table 34 – Share of broadband subscribers by platform – 2007 – 2017
Table 35 – Market share of fixed broadband subscriptions by operator – 2010 – 2017
Table 36 – Residential market share of broadband access speed – 2012 – 2017
Table 37 – Total market share of broadband access speed – 2013 – 2017
Table 38 – Forecasts – fixed broadband subscribers – 2019; 2021; 2023
Table 39 – Virgin Media Ireland subscribers – 2006 – 2017
Table 40 – Virgin Media Ireland revenue – 2006 – 2009; 2013 – 2017
Table 41 – Cable broadband subscribers –2002 – 2017
Table 42 – DSL access provision by type and operator – 2002 – 2017
Table 43 – Eir retail broadband subscribers – 2010 – 2017
Table 44 – DSL subscribers – 2010 – 2017
Table 45 – VDSL connections – 2013 – 2017
Table 46 – Proportion of VDSL connections by access type – 2014 – 2017
Table 47 – FttP connections – 2016 – 2017
Table 48 – Eir fibre broadband subscribers – 2013 – 2017
Table 49 – Fixed wireless broadband subscribers – 2005 – 2017
Table 50 – Wireless hotspots and access points - 2007 – 2017
Table 51 – Operator blended ARPU – 2005 – 2017
Table 52 – Historic - Mobile subscribers and penetration rate – 1995; 1997; 1999 – 2009
Table 53 – Mobile subscribers and penetration rate – 2010 – 2018
Table 54 – Mobile subscribers (not incl. mobile broadband, M2M) – 2011 – 2017
Table 55 – Mobile retail market revenue, voice and data – 2005 – 2017
Table 56 – Mobile share of subscribers by operator – 2005 – 2017
Table 57– Operator share of subscribers (excl. M2M and broadband) – 2014 – 2017
Table 58 – Mobile share of revenue by operator – 2005 – 201
Table 59 – Prepaid versus postpaid share of subscribers – 2000 - 2017
Table 60 – Proportion of prepaid subscribers by operator – 2008 – 2017
Table 61 – Mobile voice traffic – 2005 – 2017
Table 62 – Mobile data traffic share by technology – 2014 – 2017
Table 63 – Data use per subscriber – 2011 – 2017
Table 64 – SMS messages sent – 2000 – 2018
Table 65 – SMS and MMS messages sent per subscriber – 2011 – 2017
Table 66 – SMS and MMS revenue – 2012 – 2015
Table 67 – MMS messages sent – 2005 – 2017
Table 68 – Dedicated mobile broadband subscribers – 2007 – 2017
Table 69 – Mobile broadband market share by operator – 2010 – 2017
Table 70 – Forecasts – mobile subscribers – 2019; 2021; 2023
Table 71 – European roaming charges – 2007 – 2016
Table 72 – European data roaming charges – 2014 – 2017
Table 73 – Annual mobile numbers ported – 2005 – 2017
Table 74 – Mobile subscriber market share by technology – 2013 – 2017
Table 75 – 3G SIM cards in use by type – 2011 – 2016
Table 76 – M2M connections – 2013 – 2017
Table 77 – Vodafone Ireland mobile subscribers – 2006 – 2017
Table 78 – Vodafone Ireland fixed-line subscribers – 2010 – 2017
Table 79 – Vodafone Ireland mobile service revenue – 2010 – 2018
Table 80 – O2 mobile financial data (historic) – 2007 – 2014
Table 81 – O2 mobile data statistics (historic) – 2007 – 2013
Table 82 – O2 ARPU, blended, prepaid and contract (historic) – 2006 – 2013
Table 83 – O2 subscribers (historic) – 2006 – 2014
Table 84 – Eir mobile subscribers – 2006 – 2017
Table 85 – Eir mobile services revenue – 2006 - 2010; 2012- 2018
Table 86 – Eir mobile annualised blended ARPU - 2006 – 2014
Table 87 – Eir mobile prepaid and contract ARPU - 2013 – 2017
Table 88 – 3 Ireland registered subscribers – 2006 – 2017
Table 89 – 3 Ireland active subscribers – 2013 – 2017
Table 90 – 3 Ireland financial data – 2007 – 2017
Table 91 – 3 Ireland revenue by sector – 2013 – 2017
Table 92 – 3 Ireland annualised ARPU – 2013 – 2017

List of Charts

Chart 1 – Market revenue share by fixed, mobile and broadcasting sectors – 2002 – 2016
Chart 2 - Unbundled loops and access lines – 2005 – 2017
Chart 3 – Fixed-line and mobile voice traffic in minutes – 2008 – 2017
Chart 4 – Fixed voice subscriptions and teledensity – 2005 – 2018
Chart 5 – Total broadband subscribers by access type – 2002 – 2017
Chart 6 – Virgin Media Ireland broadband, phone, cable TV subscribers – 2006 – 2017
Chart 7 – DSL access provision by type and operator – 2002 – 2017
Chart 8 – Wireless hotspots and access points – 2007 – 2017
Chart 9 – Mobile subscribers and penetration rate – 2005 – 2018
Chart 10 – Mobile market revenue, voice and data – 2005 – 2017
Chart 11 – Mobile share of subscribers by operator – 2006 – 2017
Chart 12 – Mobile share of revenue by operator – 2006 - 2017

List of Exhibits

Exhibit 1 – Access and the local loop
Exhibit 2 – 3G licence results – June 2002
Exhibit 3 – Multiband frequency award process – 2012
Exhibit 4 – WDMDS licences: operators, spectrum and fees – 2005

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2018 Ireland - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Purchase this Report

Ireland’s National Broadband Plan left with a single bidder

Key statistics

Telecommunications market

Regulatory environment

Fixed network operators

Telecommunications infrastructure

Broadband market

Mobile communications

Purchase this Report

Share this Report

TMT Intelligence

A platform to scale your intelligence tasks

Research Methodology

Hot Topics

News & Views