Belgium - Key Statistics, Telecom Market and Regulatory Overviews

Synopsis

Belgium’s medium-sized telecom market benefits from comprehensive DSL and cable networks, a strong cable-TV sector, and effective competition in the broadband and mobile telephone markets. Broadband penetration lags behind the leading European nations but new regulatory measures to promote wholesale and bitstream access should address lingering issues.

This report provides data and analysis on key aspects of the Belgian telecom market in 2011. It assesses the latest statistics on fixed-network services and also reviews key regulatory issues, noting the status of interconnection, local loop unbundling, number portability and carrier preselection. The telecom infrastructure and major fixed-network operators and are also profiled.

Key developments:

Regulator undergoes structural changes to meet strategic vision to 2013; regulator’s market data for 2010; operator data to June 2011.

Companies covered in this report include:

Belgacom, COLT, Mobistar, Scarlet, Tele2, Telenet, Versatel.

Table of Contents

• 1. Synopsis
• 2. Key statistics
• 3. Telecommunications market
  • 3.1 Overview of Belgium’s telecom market
• 4. Regulatory environment
  • 4.1 History
    • 4.1.1 EU regulatory framework
    • 4.1.2 Revised NFR
  • 4.2 Regulatory authority
    • 4.2.1 Belgian Institute for Posts and Telecommunications (BIPT)
  • 4.3 Telecom sector liberalisation in Belgium
    • 4.3.1 Privatisation of Belgacom
    • 4.3.2 Interconnect
    • 4.3.3 Access
    • 4.3.4 Number Portability (NP)
    • 4.3.5 Carrier PreSelection (CPS)
    • 4.3.6 Wholesale Line Rental (WLR)
• 5. Fixed network operators in Belgium
  • 5.1 Overview of operators
  • 5.2 Belgacom
  • 5.3 COLT Telecom NV
  • 5.4 Mobistar
  • 5.5 Scarlet (formerly KPN Belgium)
  • 5.6 Tele2 Belgium
  • 5.7 Telenet
  • 5.8 Versatel Telecom
• 6. Telecommunications infrastructure
  • 6.1 National telecom network
  • 6.2 Next Generation Network (NGN)
  • 6.3 International infrastructure
• 7. Related reports

• Table 1 – Country statistics – 2011 (e)
• Table 2 – Telecom revenue and investment statistics – 2010
• Table 3 – Telephone network statistics – 2011 (e)
• Table 4 – Internet user statistics – 2011 (e)
• Table 5 – Broadband statistics – 2011 (e)
• Table 6 – Mobile statistics – 2011 (e)
• Table 7 – National telecommunications authority
• Table 8 – Telecom market investment: fixed and mobile by sector – 2006 - 2012
• Table 9 – Telecom market investment (regulator data) – 2006 - 2008
• Table 10 – Telecom market revenue by sector – 2006 - 2012
• Table 11 – Telecom market revenue (not inc. TV) – 2006 - 2012
• Table 12 – LLU, shared access price – connection, monthly rental – 2006 - 2009
• Table 13 – Wholesale access lines – 2007 - 2009
• Table 14 – Unbundled loops and access lines – 2004 - 2009
• Table 15 – BRUO and BROBA monthly access fees – 2011
• Table 16 – Fixed numbers ported (historical) – 2000 - 2005
• Table 17 – Cumulative fixed number portings (EC data) – 2005 - 2008
• Table 18 – Carrier preselect numbers and annual change – 2000 - 2010
• Table 19 – Fixed-line telephony revenue – 2002 - 2012
• Table 20 – Fixed-line traffic by type – 2005 - 2012
• Table 21 – Belgacom (CBU) access channels – 2007 - 2011
• Table 22 – Belgacom residential traffic – 2007 - 2011
• Table 23 – Belgacom financial data – 2003 - 2011
• Table 24 – Belgacom revenue by sector – 2004 - 2011
• Table 25 – Belgacom revenue by operating division – 2007 - 2011
• Table 26 – Belgacom fixed-line services revenue by sector (CBU) – 2007 - 2011
• Table 27 – Belgacom monthly ARPU by sector (CBU) – 2005 - 2011
• Table 28 – Mobistar financial data by sector – 2007 - 2011
• Table 29 – Mobistar subscribers by sector – 2008 - 2011
• Table 30 – Telenet revenue by sector – 2004 - 2011
• Table 31 – Telenet subscribers by sector – 2006 - 2011
• Table 32 – Telenet financial data – 2005 - 2011
• Table 33 – Telenet subscriber annualised monthly ARPU – 2005 - 2010
• Table 34 – Versatel financial data (historic) – 2005 - 2007
• Table 35 – Versatel subscriber statistics (historic) – 2005 - 2007
• Table 36 – Versatel subscribers by type (historic) – 2006 - 2007
• Table 37 – Fixed lines in service and teledensity – 1995; 1997; 1999 - 2012
• Table 38 – Fixed lines by type – 2006 - 2012
• Table 39 – Altnet fixed lines – 2000 - 2012

• Chart 1 – Telecom market revenue by sector – 2006 - 2012
• Chart 2 – Fixed-line traffic by type – 2005 – 2012
• Chart 3 – Belgacom (CBU) access channels – 2007 - 2011
• Chart 4 – Belgacom residential traffic – 2007 - 2011
• Chart 5 – Belgacom financial data – 2003 - 2011
• Chart 6 – Belgacom revenue by sector – 2004 - 2011
• Chart 7 – Belgacom revenue by operating division – 2007 - 2011
• Chart 8 – Belgacom fixed-line services revenue by sector (CBU) – 2007 - 2011
• Chart 9 – Mobistar financial data – 2007 - 2011
• Chart 10 – Mobistar subscribers by sector – 2008 - 2011
• Chart 11 – Telenet revenue by sector – 2004 - 2011
• Chart 12 – Telenet subscribers by sector – 2006 - 2011
• Chart 13 – Telenet financial data – 2005 - 2011
• Chart 14 – Fixed lines in service and teledensity – 1999 - 2012
• Chart 15 – Fixed lines by type – 2006 – 2012

• Exhibit 1 – EU – The New Regulatory Framework (NRF)
• Exhibit 3 – Number portability defined