Virus impact over each market - telecom operators, government agencies and regulators' responses - revised forecasts for the next 5 years.
Publication Overview
This report provides a comprehensive overview of trends and developments in Croatia’s telecommunications market. The report analyses the fixed-line, mobile and broadband sectors. Subjects include:
Researcher:- Henry Lancaster
Current publication date:- October 2019 (18th Edition)
Executive Summary
The telecoms market in Croatia has been shaped by the country having joined the European Union in 2013, a process which resulted in market liberalisation and the creation of a regulatory environment conducive to competition. Alternative operators have entered the market and there is effective competition in the in the fixed-line, broadband and mobile markets.
The market has attracted international players including Telekom Austria and Tele2 Group, though the latter in mid-2019 sold its local unit Tele2 Croatia to United Group, a company with existing telecom and pay TV interests in the region. As a result, further investment and an expansion of Tele2 Croatia’s offerings are expected into 2020.
Croatia’s mobile market is served by three network operators, while there is also room for a small number of MVNOs. The network operators have focused on improving ARPU by encouraging prepaid subscribers to migrate to postpaid plans, and on developing revenue from customer use of mobile data services. To this end considerable investment is ongoing to upgrade network infrastructure, with the incumbent telco Hrvatski Telekom spearheading trials of 5G technologies and services.
The broadband sector benefits from effective competition between the fixed-line DSL and cable access platforms, while there are also a number of fibre deployments in urban areas. The sector is being supported by the government’s broadband plan which aims to provide an improved broadband service nationally by 2020. As a result of competition and continuing investment among operators, the country has a relatively high broadband penetration rate for the region.
This report provides an overview of Croatia’s fixed-line market, covering regulatory developments, infrastructure and the financial and operating performance of the main operators. The report also covers the mobile voice and data markets, including statistics on service providers, and an assessment of network developments and deployed technologies. In addition, the report reviews the fixed and fixed wireless broadband segment, including statistics and subscriber forecasts to 2024.
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.
Hrvatski Telekom (HT), Optima Telekom, Metronet, A1 Croatia (VIPnet), Tele2 Croatia
Henry Lancaster
October 2019
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