United Kingdom - Telecoms market trends and opportunities to 2015

Synopsis

The UK’s telecom market, one of the largest in Europe, is characterised by fierce competition in the mobile and broadband sectors, and by an innovative broadcast sector which has pioneered business models for distributing digital content. As a consequence, mobile and broadband penetration is comfortably ahead of the European average, while digital TV uptake has reached 92% of the population. Consumer prices across the board have fallen steadily, while network capabilities have been greatly expanded following recent investments by the incumbent British Telecom and Virgin Media in Next Generation Networks.

This report reviews the key aspects of the UK’s fixed-line, broadband and mobile markets, and looks ahead to emerging trends during the next few years which will guide consumer behaviour and demands as well as operator reactions and deployments. Analyses of emerging technologies and their applications, as well as market trends are supplemented by a wealth of current and historic statistics as well as important revenue, subscriber and ARPU forecasts in the mobile and broadband sectors. It also assesses the effects on several market sectors anticipated from recent regulatory measures, including those related to fibre network access and spectrum issues. These crucial developments will guide operator investments in coming years, and help to establish the UK’s position in the wider global telecom landscape.

Table of Contents

• 1. Synopsis
• 2. Overview of the telecoms sector
• 3. Broadband
  • 3.1 Overview of the broadband market
  • 3.2 Cable modems
• 4. Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL)
• 5. Mobile
  • 5.1 Overview of the mobile market
  • 5.2 Mobile Network Operators (MNOs)
  • 5.3 Spectrum developments
    • 5.3.1 Spectrum 2.6GHz
    • 5.3.2 Spectrum 800MHz
    • 5.3.3 Spectrum 900MHz and 1800MHz
  • 5.4 Mobile Messaging
  • 5.5 Mobile data services
  • 5.6 Forecasts – UMTS – 2007 - 2010; 2015
  • 5.7 Forecasts – broadband subscribers – 2007 - 2012; 2020
    • 5.7.1 Scenario 1 – higher broadband subscriber growth
    • 5.7.2 Scenario 2 – lower broadband subscriber growth
    • Table 1 – Key subscriber statistics – March 2010
    • Table 2 – Telecom sector investment – 2007 - 2011
    • Table 3 – Communications retail revenue by sector – 2003 - 2010
    • Table 4 – Retail voice and Internet revenue – 2003 - 2010
    • Table 5 – Household spend on telecoms services – 2004 - 2009
    • Table 19 – Virgin Media subscribers by sector – 2007 - 2010
    • Table 20 – Virgin Media ARPU – 2007 - 2010
    • Table 21 – Virgin Media proportion of broadband subscribers by speed of service – 2008 - 2009
    • Table 22 – Virgin Media revenue growth by sector – 2009 - 2010
    • Table 27 – Mobile call revenue by operator – 2002 - 2010
    • Table 28 – Mobile retail revenue by service – 2002 - 2011
    • Table 29 – Mobile handset sales – 2005 - 2011
    • Table 30 – Mobile subscribers and SIM penetration rate – 1995; 1997; 1999 - 2011
    • Table 31 – Mobile subscribers by operator – 2000 - 2010
    • Table 32 – Mobile retail revenue by operator – 2000 - 2010
    • Table 33 – Mobile ARPU by sector – 2003 - 2010
    • Table 34 – Mobile retail revenue by sector – 2003 - 2010
    • Table 39 – SMS/MMS messages sent – 2004- 2010
    • Table 40 – SMS and MMS revenue by operator – 2006 - 2010
    • Table 42 – Mobile data traffic and revenue increase– 2007 - 2010
    • Table 43 – Average ARPU per data service (£) – 2009
    • Table 44 – Mobile data revenue by service (£) – 2009
    • Table 48 – Forecast UMTS subscribers – 2007 - 2010; 2015
    • Table 49 – Forecast broadband subscribers – higher market growth scenario – 2007 - 2012; 2020
    • Table 50 – Forecast broadband subscribers – lower market growth scenario – 2007 - 2012; 2020