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Belgium - Telecoms Infrastructure, Operators, Regulations - Statistics and Analyses

Synopsis

Belgium’s telecom market has long benefited from comprehensive DSL and cable networks, complemented by limited but increasingly prevalent fibre deployments. Though relatively small, the market has attracted investment from some of the region’s major players, including Liberty Global and Orange Group. There have been significant developments in the competitive landscape in recent years, fostered by regulatory measures which require cablecos to allow competitors access to their networks. This has enabled Orange Belgium to become a viable force in the market for bundled services offerings, hitherto dominated by Proximus. Nevertheless, Orange Belgium has seen its influence in the mobile market wane in recent years, principally through having lost two key MVNOs which are now hosted on the network of its main rival BASE, owned by Telenet since 2016.

Telenet’s acquisition of BASE and of SFR Belgium in June 2017 made the telco the second largest in the country, a position bolstered by a strong presence in the TV and broadband sectors.

Broadband penetration has made considerable progress in recent years, largely thanks to regulatory measures to promote wholesale and bitstream access. In the mobile sector LTE availability is nearly universal, while there are ongoing investments in developing applications and services for 5G, with commercial services expected in 2020 soon after the auction of 3.5GHz spectrum.

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.

Key developments:

  • Regulator issues Strategic Plan covering 2017-19;
  • Regulator undergoes structural changes to meet strategic vision;
  • Report update includes the regulator's market data for 2017, regulator's annual report for 2018, telcos' financial and operating data to Q1 2019, recent market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report:

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

Table of Contents

  • Key statistics

  • Country overview

  • 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

  • Related reports


List of Tables

  • Table 1 – Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities - Belgium – 2018
  • 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

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

List of Exhibits

  • Exhibit 1 – Access and the local loop
  • Exhibit 2 – Number portability defined

Related Reports

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Licence Information

Focus Report Profile

Technologies

Regulations & Government Policies
Telecoms Infrastructure

Number of pages 62

Status Current

Last updated 11 Jun 2019
Update History

Analyst: Henry Lancaster

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