Australia - Mobile Communications - Revenue Overview and Statistics

Synopsis

Overall mobile services revenue continues to come under pressure from competition among the three key market players and from among the small number of MVNOs. Compounding competitive pressure is the recent decision by the ACCC to regulate the pricing of wholesale SMS tariffs.

As the market has entered 2017 Telstra and Optus are better placed to capitalise on spectrum assets, having been able to make use of their 700MHz concessions since a year prior and so further develop their LTE subscriber base. Vodafone remains under some strain though it has seen encouraging revenue growth in recent quarters, supported by a revival of its subscriber base following a long period of decline. This change of fortune is a reflection of optimism among the company’s management as well as a return of consumer confidence following network upgrades. By early 2017 the operator claimed to provide 96% population coverage with its LTE infrastructure, and had deployed VoLTE services across its LTE network. It also aimed to add more than 100 base stations to its LTE network during 2017, focussed on underserved areas.

Pressure on pricing will continue to place a strain on operator revenue into fiscal 2017, with revenue from mobile data services failing to offset the sharpening decline in revenue from voice services. This is being exacerbated by the popularity of OTT services which has led to a fall in SMS traffic and revenue. In addition OTT services are helping to reduce voice traffic volume, while with VoLTE technologies voice traffic is rendered as data.

This report provides analysis of market shares and revenue growth, as well as revenue earned from mobile voice and mobile data services. In addition, the report includes additional statistical data relating to prepaid and postpaid revenue and average revenue per user (ARPU) for selected mobile voice and data services.

Key developments:

ARPU, mobile revenue by MNOs; telcos’ operating data, recent market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report:

SingTel, VHA, Optus, Telstra.