2019 Belgium - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Last updated: 15 May 2020 Update History

Report Status: Archived

Report Pages: 180

Analyst: Henry Lancaster

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Summary
Table Of Contents

Publication Overview

This report provides a comprehensive overview of trends and developments in Belgium’s telecommunications market. The report analyses the fixed-line, mobile and broadband sectors. Subjects include:

Market and industry analyses, trends and developments;
Facts, figures and statistics;
Industry and regulatory issues;
Infrastructure developments;
Major Players, Revenues, Subscribers, ARPU, MoU;
Mobile Voice and Data Markets;
Broadband (FttP, DSL, cable, wireless);
Mobile subscribers and ARPU;
Broadband market forecasts;
Government policies affecting the telecoms industry;
Market liberalisation and industry issues;
Telecoms operators – privatisation, IPOs, acquisitions, new licences;
Mobile technologies (GSM; 3G, HSPA, LTE, 5G).

Researcher:- Henry Lancaster
Current publication date:- June 2019 (18th Edition)

Executive Summary

Belgium delays 5G auction to 2020

Belgium’s mobile market is served by the three network operators Proximus, Orange Belgium and BASE, and by a good number of MVNOs. Mobile networks have been upgraded to support growing mobile data use among subscribers, with near-comprehensive LTE coverage. Operators have also trialled 5G in preparation for launching services in 2020 and 2021. However, the auction of 5G-suitable spectrum has been delayed to 2020, while the onerous restrictions on radiation have meant that some 5G trials have been suspended.

There is effective competition in Belgium between the DSL and cable platforms, while in recent years government support has also encouraged investment in fibre networks. Telenet, supported by its parent Liberty Global, has extended the reach of services based on the DOCSIS3.1 standard, while Proximus also has extensive fibre/VDSL and FttP deployments and is currently investing in €3 billion 'Fibre for Belgium' program through to 2027.

In a bid to encourage investment in underserved areas, the regulator in 2018 amended the conditions by which market players grant wholesale access to copper and fibre infrastructure. In May 2019 it opened a further consultation on cost models for access to the networks of cablecos and those of Proximus’s fibre infrastructure.

This report provides data and analysis on key aspects of the Belgian telecom market. 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 are also profiled

This report profiles Belgium’s telecom market, including regulatory measures and the strategies of the main players. It also covers the fixed and wireless broadband markets, providing broadband subscriber forecasts and an assessment of technology deployments and investment plans. In addition, the report assesses Belgian’s mobile voice and data markets, including statistics on the main players, as well as spectrum auction plans, recent developments regarding LTE, and operator strategies for deploying services based on 5G.

BuddeComm notes that the outbreak of the Coronavirus in 2020 is having a significant impact on production and supply chains globally. During the coming year the telecoms sector to various degrees is likely to experience a downturn in mobile device production, while it may also be difficult for network operators to manage workflows when maintaining and upgrading existing infrastructure. Overall progress towards 5G may be postponed or slowed down in some countries.

On the consumer side, spending on telecoms services and devices is under pressure from the financial effect of large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes. However, the crucial nature of telecom services, both for general communication as well as a tool for home-working, will offset such pressures. In many markets the net effect should be a steady though reduced increased in subscriber growth.

Although it is challenging to predict and interpret the long-term impacts of the crisis as it develops, these have been acknowledged in the industry forecasts contained in this report.

The report also covers the responses of the telecom operators as well as government agencies and regulators as they react to the crisis to ensure that citizens can continue to make optimum use of telecom services. This can be reflected in subsidy schemes and the promotion of tele-health and tele-education, among other solutions.

Key developments:

Spectrum auction for 5G delayed due to COVID-19;
Proximus accelerates fibre rollout, aiming to connect 2.4 million homes by 2025, increases data rates for customers for duration of coronavirus measures;
Pre-paid mobile SIM cards registration leads to drop in subscriber numbers;
Orange Belgium adds mobile telephony to bundled offers;
Proximus engaged in €3 billion 'Fibre for Belgium' investment program to 2027;
Regulator approves amended wholesale access conditions;
Networks on track to reach national 30Mb/s connectivity by 2020
Regulator concludes 2.6GHz auction, achieves €360 million at auction for 800MHz spectrum;
Report update includes the regulator's market data update for 2018, regulator's 2018 annual report, telcos' financial and operating data to Q1 2020, assessment of the global impact of COVID-19 on the telecoms sector, recent market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report:

Proximus (Belgacom), Orange Belgium (Mobistar), BASE, Telenet, Lycamobile Belgium, Versatel, Interkabel, COLT, Scarlet, Tele2.

Key statistics
Country overview
COVID-19 and its impact on the telecom sector

Economic considerations and responses
Mobile devices
Subscribers
Infrastructure

Telecommunications market

Historical overview
Market analysis

Regulatory environment

Historic overview
Regulatory authority
Government policies
Interconnect
Access
Cable network access
Number Portability (NP)
Carrier PreSelection (CPS)
Wholesale Line Rental (WLR)

Fixed network operators

Introduction
Proximus
COLT Telecom
Orange Belgium
Scarlet (formerly KPN Belgium)
Tele2 Belgium
Telenet

Telecommunications infrastructure

Overview of the national telecom network
Next Generation Network (NGN)
International infrastructure
Cloud services
Smart meters

Broadband market

Introduction and statistical overview

Market analysis
Broadband statistics

Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks

Telenet
Interkabel
SFR (Numéricable)

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) Networks

Proximus
Versatel/Tele2 Belgium
Orange Belgium
Other DSL developments

Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks

Government support
Digital Metropolis Antwerp
Proximus

Other fixed broadband services

Broadband Powerline (BPL)
Fixed Wireless Access (FWA)
WLAN/Wi-Fi
WiMAX

Mobile communications

Market analysis
Mobile statistics
Mobile infrastructure

5G
4G (LTE)
3G
GSM

Internet of Things (IoT)

Machine-to-Machine (M2M)

Mobile data

Short Message Service (SMS)
Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)

Mobile broadband
Regulatory issues

Spectrum
Roaming
Mobile Termination Rates (MTRs)
Mobile Number Portability (MNP)

Major mobile operators

Proximus
Orange Belgium (Mobistar)
BASE (Telenet)
Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs)

Glossary of abbreviations
Related reports

List of Tables

Table 1 – Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities - Belgium – 2020 (e)
Table 2 – Telecom market investment: fixed and mobile by sector – 2006 – 2010; 2014 – 16
Table 3 – Total telecom market investment – 2012 – 2018
Table 4 – Telecom market investment: network and licenses – 2011 – 2017
Table 5 – Telecom investment as a proportion of revenue – 2011 – 2017
Table 6 – Retail telecom revenue by sector – 2012 – 2017
Table 7 – Wholesale telecom revenue by sector – 2012 – 2017
Table 8 – Total telecom revenue by sector – 2011 – 2017
Table 9 – Fixed numbers ported – 2009 – 2017
Table 10 – Carrier preselect numbers and annual change – 2009 – 2017
Table 11 – Fixed-line telephony revenue – 2009 – 2017
Table 12 – Fixed-line and mobile traffic volume – 2008 – 2017
Table 13 – Fixed-line traffic by type – 2005 – 2017
Table 14 – Proximus (CBU) access channels – 2007 – 2019
Table 15 – Proximus Group financial data – 2009 – 2019
Table 16 – Proximus revenue by sector – 2009 – 2019
Table 17 – Proximus revenue by operating division – 2007 – 2019
Table 18 – Proximus fixed-line services revenue by sector (CBU) – 2007 – 2019
Table 19 – Proximus monthly ARPU by sector (CBU) – 2005 – 2018
Table 20 – Orange Belgium financial data – 2013 – 2019
Table 21 – Orange Belgium service revenue by sector – 2007 – 2018
Table 22 – Orange Belgium retail service revenue by sector (new style) – 2016 – 2018
Table 23 – Orange Belgium subscribers by sector – 2008 – 2018
Table 24 – Telenet financial data – 2009 – 2019
Table 25 – Telenet revenue by sector – 2009 – 2019
Table 26 – Telenet subscribers by sector – 2006 – 2019
Table 27 – Fixed lines in service and teledensity – 2010 – 2019
Table 28 – Fixed lines by type – 2006 – 2017
Table 29 – Growth in the number of fixed broadband subscribers by technology – 2010 – 2018
Table 30 – Growth in the number of fixed broadband subscribers and penetration – 2010 – 2025
Table 31 – Change in the number of broadband subscription net additions per year – 2010 – 2018
Table 32 – Residential broadband revenue – 2014 – 2017
Table 33 – Residential broadband ARPU – 2013 – 2017
Table 34 – Fixed-line broadband penetration by service – 2007 – 2019
Table 35 – Change in the proportion of fixed-broadband lines by speed – 2010 – 2018
Table 36 – Change in the number of fixed-broadband lines by speed – 2012 – 2018
Table 37 – Growth in the number of Telenet’s fixed broadband subscribers – 2010 – 2020
Table 38 – Growth in the number of Proximus’s fixed broadband subscribers – 2010 – 2020
Table 39 – Growth in the number of Orange Belgium’s broadband subscribers – 2008 – 2020
Table 40 – Growth in the number of VDSL subscribers – 2012 – 2018
Table 41 – Growth in the number of FttP/B subscribers – 2012 – 2018
Table 42 – Mobile revenue – 2012 – 2017
Table 43 – Active mobile/SIM card subscribers and teledensity – 2010 – 2019
Table 44 – Market share by operator – 2009 – 2018
Table 45 – Mobile ARPU – 2011 – 2019
Table 46 – Mobile voice traffic – 2005 – 2018
Table 47 – Average use of service per subscriber per month – 2010 – 2018
Table 48 – Mobile prepaid and contract subscribers (residential, MNOs) – 2012 – 2017
Table 49 – LTE subscribers with data – 2013 – 2017
Table 50 – 3G subscribers with data – 2013 – 2017
Table 51 – M2M connections – 2011 – 2018
Table 52 – M2M revenue – 2014 – 2017
Table 53 – Orange Belgium M2M connections – 2009 – 2019
Table 54 – Mobile data traffic – 2012 – 2019
Table 55 – Average data traffic per subscribers per month – 2013 – 2019
Table 56 – Proximus average mobile data traffic – 2016 – 2018
Table 57 – SMS traffic – 2009 – 2019
Table 58 – Mobile broadband subscribers by technology – 2008 – 2019
Table 59 – Active mobile broadband subscribers and penetration – 2008 – 2019
Table 60 – 800MHz auction results – 2013
Table 61 – 2.6GHz auction results – 2011
Table 62 – Spectrum assignment overview
Table 63 – Mobile roaming voice traffic – 2015 – 2017
Table 64 – Mobile termination voice revenue – 2007 – 2017
Table 65 – Annual mobile numbers ported – 2002 – 2017
Table 66 – Proximus mobile revenue by sector (CBU) – 2007 – 2019
Table 67 – Proximus mobile subscribers – 2005 – 2019
Table 68 – Proximus CBU mobile subscribers by type – 2007 – 2019
Table 69 – Proximus annualised ARPU (CBU) by sector – 2007 – 2019
Table 70 – Orange Belgium subscribers (Belgium) – 2007 – 2019
Table 71 – Orange Belgium MVNOs subscribers (Belgium) – 2014 – 2019
Table 72 – Orange Belgium financial data – 2013 – 2019
Table 73 – Orange Belgium mobile services revenue – 2005 – 2019
Table 74 – Orange Belgium annualised ARPU – 2005 – 2016
Table 75 – Orange Belgium annualised ARPO – 2017 – 2018
Table 76 – Telenet mobile revenue – 2007 – 2019
Table 77 – Telenet mobile subscribers – 2006 – 2019
Table 78 – MVNO subscribers and market share – 2006 – 2017
Table 79 – MVNO revenue – 2012 – 2017
Table 80 – MVNO mobile voice traffic and market share – 2006 – 2017
Table 81 – Historical - Internet users and penetration rate – 1995 – 2009
Table 82 – Historic – Broadband fixed-line subscribers by technology – 2000 – 2009
Table 83 – Historic - Broadband subscription net additions per year – 2005 – 2009
Table 84 – Historic - Telenet broadband subscribers – 2006 – 2009

List of Charts

Chart 1 – Total telecom revenue by sector – 2011 – 2017
Chart 2 – Fixed-line and mobile traffic volume – 2008 – 2017
Chart 3 – Fixed-line traffic by type – 2005 – 2017
Chart 4 – Proximus Group financial data – 2093 – 2019
Chart 5 – Proximus revenue by sector – 2009 – 2019
Chart 6 – Proximus revenue by operating division – 2007 – 2019
Chart 7 – Proximus fixed-line services revenue by sector (CBU) – 2007 – 2019
Chart 8 – Orange Belgium service revenue by sector – 2007 – 2018
Chart 9 – Orange Belgium retail service revenue by sector (new style) – 2016 – 2018
Chart 10 – Telenet financial data – 2009 - 2019
Chart 11 – Telenet revenue by sector – 2009 – 2019
Chart 12 – Telenet subscribers by sector – 2009 – 2019
Chart 13 – Fixed lines in service and teledensity – 2005 – 2019
Chart 14 – Fixed lines by type – 2006 – 2017
Chart 15 – Growth in the number of fixed broadband subscribers by technology – 2010 – 2018
Chart 16 – Growth in the number of fixed broadband subscribers and penetration – 2010 – 2025
Chart 17 – Change in the number of broadband subscription net additions per year – 2010 – 2018
Chart 18 – Change in the proportion of fixed-broadband lines by speed – 2010 – 2018
Chart 19 – Change in the number of fixed-broadband lines by speed – 2010 – 2018
Chart 20 – Growth in the number of Telenet’s fixed broadband subscribers – 2010 – 2020
Chart 21 – Growth in the number of Proximus’s fixed broadband subscribers – 2010 – 2020
Chart 22 – Growth in the number of Orange Belgium’s broadband subscribers – 2008 – 2020
Chart 23 – Growth in the number of VDSL subscribers – 2012 – 2018
Chart 24 – Growth in the number of FttP/B subscribers – 2012 – 2018
Chart 25 – Mobile revenue – 2012 – 2017
Chart 26 – Mobile/SIM card subscribers and teledensity –2005 – 2019
Chart 27 – Market share by operator – 2002 – 2018
Chart 28 – Active mobile broadband subscribers and penetration – 2008 – 2019
Chart 29 – Proximus CBU subscribers by type – 2007 – 2019
Chart 30 – Proximus annualised ARPU (CBU) by sector – 2007 – 2019
Chart 31 – Telenet mobile subscribers – 2006 – 2019

List of Exhibits

Exhibit 1 – Access and the local loop
Exhibit 2 – Number portability defined
Exhibit 3 – Main DSL service providers
Exhibit 4 – WiMAX spectrum licenses – 2001 – 2005
Exhibit 5 – Key global developments towards 5G standardisation
Exhibit 6 – 5G spectrum, speed and devices
Exhibit 7 – Key considerations for government and regulators in relation to 5G

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2019 Belgium - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Purchase this Report

Belgium delays 5G auction to 2020

Key developments:

Companies mentioned in this report:

Key statistics

Country overview

COVID-19 and its impact on the telecom sector

Telecommunications market

Regulatory environment

Fixed network operators

Telecommunications infrastructure

Broadband market

Mobile communications

Glossary of abbreviations

Related reports

Purchase this Report

Share this Report

TMT Intelligence

A platform to scale your intelligence tasks

Research Methodology

Hot Topics

News & Views