Ireland - Mobile Market Insights, Statistics and Forecasts

Synopsis

Ireland’s mobile market has undergone considerable changes in recent years. The market remains dominated by a triopoly of service providers, all of which provide 3G services, but the entry of the first two MVNOs promises radical changes to market competition in coming years. Mobile broadband, on the back of expanding HSPA networks, has become very popular among consumers since the introduction of flat-rate data plans. The regulator has also announced its willingness to set aside UHF spectrum for possible use by mobile TV services from 2010. This report provides statistics and analysis on the Irish mobile market, including the key regulatory issues, a snapshot of the consumer market, emerging technologies, and the growth of mobile data services such as SMS and mobile TV.

Key developments:

Tesco Mobile profit turnaround; regulator preparing 130MHz of sub-1GHz spectrum for mobile broadband; Meteor and O2 sign Ireland’s first network sharing deal; O2 launches MVNO; SMS traffic showed recovering growth in 2011; mobile broadband subscriptions growing nearly 10% annually; Vodafone set to increase investment by 20% in 2012; Vodafone fined for roaming data cap breaches; mobile retail revenue falls 1.2% in Q3 2011; mobile ARPU continues to slide; regulator and operator data to September 2011; market developments to early 2012.

Companies covered in this report include:

Vodafone Ireland, O2, Meteor, Eircom Mobile; Tesco Mobile.

Table of Contents

• 1. Synopsis
• 2. Overview of Ireland’s mobile market
  • 2.1 Mobile statistics
    • 2.1.1 Operator market shares
• 3. Regulatory issues
  • 3.1 Spectrum regulations and spectrum auctions
    • 3.1.1 3G spectrum
    • 3.1.2 Digital dividend spectrum
    • 3.1.3 900MHz
    • 3.1.4 1800MHz
    • 3.1.5 26GHz licences
    • 3.1.6 1785-1805MHz band
    • 3.1.7 2.6GHz band
    • 3.1.8 2.3GHz band
    • 3.1.9 70-80GHz band
    • 3.1.10 UHF spectrum
  • 3.2 Roaming
    • 3.2.1 Data roaming
  • 3.3 Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
  • 3.4 Mobile termination rates (MTRs)
  • 3.5 Wideband Digital Mobile Data Services (WDMDS)
  • 3.6 Network sharing
• 4. Mobile technologies
  • 4.1 Digital
  • 4.2 Third Generation (3G) mobile
    • 4.2.1 Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA)
• 5. Major mobile operators
  • 5.1 Vodafone Ireland
  • 5.2 O2 Ireland
  • 5.3 Meteor Mobile
  • 5.4 Eircom Mobile
  • 5.5 3 Ireland
  • 5.6 MVNOs
• 6. Mobile voice services
  • 6.1 Prepaid
• 7. Mobile Messaging
  • 7.1 Short Message Service (SMS)
    • 7.1.1 Premium SMS (PSMS)
  • 7.2 Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)
• 8. Mobile data services
  • 8.1 General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)
  • 8.2 High-Speed Circuit-Switched Data (HSCSD)
  • 8.3 Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution (EDGE)
  • 8.4 High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA)
    • 8.4.1 Vodafone
    • 8.4.2 O2
    • 8.4.3 3 Ireland
    • 8.4.4 Meteor
  • 8.5 Enhanced High Speed Packet Access (HSPA+)
  • 8.6 Long-term Evolution (LTE)
• 9. Mobile applications
  • 9.1 Overview
  • 9.2 Mobile TV
• 10. Forecasts
  • 10.1 Forecasts – mobile ARPU – 2009 - 2010; 2015
  • 10.2 Forecasts – UMTS subscribers – 2009 - 2010; 2015
  • 10.3 Notes on scenario forecasts
• 11. Related reports

• Table 1 – Operator blended ARPU – 2005 - 2012
• Table 2 – Mobile operators, subscribers and annual change – Sep 2011
• Table 3 – Mobile subscribers and penetration rate – 1995; 1997; 1999 - 2013
• Table 4 – Mobile market revenue, voice and data – 2005 - 2012
• Table 5 – Mobile share of subscribers by operator – 2005 - 2011
• Table 6 – Mobile share of revenue by operator – 2005 - 2011
• Table 7 – European roaming charges – 2007 - 2011
• Table 8 – Roaming in call traffic volume and messages – 2003 - 2010
• Table 9 – Annual mobile numbers ported – 2005 - 2011
• Table 10 – Cumulative mobile numbers ported – 2003 - 2011
• Table 11 – MTRs by operator – 2010 - 2012
• Table 12 – 3G subscribers by type – Sept 2011
• Table 13 – Vodafone subscribers – 2006 - 2011
• Table 14 – Vodafone service revenue – 2010 - 2011
• Table 15 – Vodafone blended ARPU – 2006 – 2008; 2010 - 2011
• Table 16 – O2 mobile financial data – 2007 - 2011
• Table 17 – O2 mobile data statistics – 2007 - 2011
• Table 18 – O2 annualised ARPU, blended, prepaid and contract – 2006 - 2011
• Table 19 – O2 subscribers – 2006 - 2011
• Table 20 – Meteor Mobile subscribers – 2006 - 2011
• Table 21 – Meteor Mobile services revenue and annual change – 2009 - 2010
• Table 22 – Meteor Mobile ARPU - 2006 - 2010
• Table 23 – 3 Ireland subscribers – 2006 - 2011
• Table 24 – 3 Ireland financial data – 2007 - 2010
• Table 25 – Mobile voice minutes – 2005 - 2013
• Table 26 – Prepaid versus postpaid share of subscribers – 2000 - 2012
• Table 27 – Proportion of prepaid subscribers by operator – 2007 - 2011
• Table 28 – SMS messages sent – 2000 - 2013
• Table 29 – MMS messages sent – 2005 - 2013
• Table 30 – Mobile data as proportion of total revenue – 2006 - 2010
• Table 31 – Mobile broadband subscribers – 2007 - 2011
• Table 32 – Market share of mobile broadband subscribers, by operator – 2010
• Table 33 – Forecast mobile ARPU – 2005 - 2010; 2015
• Table 34 – Forecast UMTS subscribers – 2006 - 2010; 2015

• Chart 1 – Mobile subscribers and penetration rate – 2000 - 2013
• Chart 2 – Mobile market revenue, voice and data – 2006 - 2012
• Chart 3 – Mobile share of subscribers by operator – 2006 - 2011
• Chart 4 – Mobile share of revenue by operator – 2006 - 2011
• Chart 5 – O2 mobile financial data – 2007 - 2011
• Chart 6 – O2 annualised ARPU, blended, prepaid and contract – 2006 - 2011
• Chart 7 – O2 subscribers – 2007 - 2011

• Exhibit 1 – 3G licence results – June 2002
• Exhibit 2 – Multiband frequency award process - 2012
• Exhibit 3 – WDMDS licences: operators, spectrum and fees – 2005