Ireland - Mobile Market - Overview, Statistics & 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 in 2010, 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.

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 900MHz
      
    • 3.1.3 26GHz licences
      
    • 3.1.4 1785-1805MHz band
      
    • 3.1.5 2.6GHz band
      
    • 3.1.6 2.3GHz band
      
    • 3.1.7 70-80GHz band
      
    • 3.1.8 UHF spectrum
      
  • 3.2 Roaming
    
    • 3.2.1 Data roaming
      
  • 3.3 Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
    
  • 3.4 Fixed-to-mobile call charges
    
  • 3.5 Wideband Digital Mobile Data Services (WDMDS)
    
• 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 Communications
    
  • 5.4 3 Ireland
    
  • 5.5 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 i-mode
    
  • 8.7 iPhone
    
  • 8.8 BlackBerry
    
• 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 - 2010
• Table 2 – Mobile operators, subscribers and annual change – September 2009
• Table 3 – Mobile subscribers and penetration rate – 1995; 1997; 1999 - 2010
• Table 4 – Mobile market revenue, voice and data – 2005 - 2010
• Table 5 – Mobile traffic volume in minutes – 2007 - 2010
• Table 6 – Mobile share of subscribers by operator – 2005 - 2009
• Table 7 – Mobile share of revenue by operator – 2005 - 2009
• Table 8 – European roaming charges – 2007 - 2011
• Table 9 – European wholesale voice roaming charges – 2009 - 2011
• Table 10 – Mobile numbers ported (cumulative) – 2003 - 2009
• Table 11 – MTRs by operator – 2010 - 2012
• Table 12 – Vodafone subscribers – 2006 - 2009
• Table 13 – Vodafone ARPU: blended, prepaid and contract – 2006 - 2008
• Table 14 – O2 mobile financial data – 2007 - 2009
• Table 15 – O2 annualised ARPU, blended, prepaid and contract – 2006 - 2009
• Table 16 – O2 subscribers – 2006 - 2009
• Table 17 – Meteor Mobile subscribers – 2006 - 2009
• Table 18 – Meteor Mobile services revenue and annual change – 2008 - 2009
• Table 19 – Meteor Mobile ARPU - 2006 - 2009
• Table 20 – 3 Ireland subscribers – 2006 - 2009
• Table 21 – 3 Ireland financial data – 2007 - 2008
• Table 22 – Mobile voice minutes – 2005 - 2009
• Table 23 – Prepaid versus postpaid share of subscribers – 2000 - 2010
• Table 24 – Proportion of prepaid subscribers by operator – 2006 - 2009
• Table 25 – SMS messages sent – 2000 - 2010
• Table 26 – MMS messages sent – 2005 - 2010
• Table 27 – Mobile data as proportion of total revenue – 2006 - 2009
• Table 28 – Mobile broadband subscribers – 2007 - 2009
• Table 29 – HSPA penetration rate – 2007 - 2009
• Table 30 – Forecast mobile ARPU – 2005 - 2010; 2015
• Table 31 – Forecast UMTS subscribers – 2006 - 2010; 2015

• Exhibit 1 – 3G licence results – June 2002
• Exhibit 2 – WDMDS licences: operators, spectrum and fees – 2005