Italy - Mobile Infrastructure, Broadband, Operators - Statistics and Analyses

Last updated: 15 Nov 2019 Update History

Report Status: Archived

Report Pages: 81

Analyst: Henry Lancaster

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Summary
Table Of Contents

Synopsis

Italy’s vibrant mobile market has one of the highest penetration rates in Europe, though the number of subscribers has fallen in recent years as customers respond to attractive off-net pricing and bundled offers from the main providers. The market underwent considerable changes following the merger of Wind and 3 Italia (becoming Wind Tre). As a result of the merger the market gained a new entrant in the form of Iliad, which secured access to spectrum and to part of Wind Tre’s infrastructure to enable it to offer services while its own network is being developed. The company launched services in May 2018 and had signed up more than 3.8 million subscribers by mid-2019. The popularity of its offers has considerably disrupted the market, leading competitors to rethink their strategies. Wind Tre in particular struggled with customers losses in 2018, while the continuing effort to merge the networks of Wind and 3 Italia was disrupted by the brief ban on commercial ties with its principal vendor ZTE.

Fastweb, which launched services as an MVNO in 2008, was recognised as an MNO in its own right in June 2019. The company has secured spectrum in the 3.5GHz and 26GHz bands, and has a ten-year deal with Wind Tre providing it with national roaming as well as a partner with which to develop a 5G network.

Network operators were among the first in Europe to trial services based on 5G. Recent spectrum auctions raised €6.55 billion, a cost which has encouraged operators to looking at cost-saving options including network build cooperation and the sale of base station portfolios.

This report provides an analytic overview of Italy’s mobile market, including statistics, key regulatory issues and an assessment of mobile data services. It also profiles the major providers and the likely impact of emerging technologies on their strategies for coming years.

Key developments:

TIM and Vodafone agree on tower network merge to support 5G rollout;
TIM launches 5G in six cities;
Fastweb and Wind Tre sign 5G network-sharing deal;
Regulator raises €6.55 billion in multi spectrum auction, reduces MTRs by a third;
Vodafone Italy and TIM settle into NB-IoT services over their LTE networks;
Regulator extends 3G licences to 2029 and GSM licences to 2027;
Report update includes the regulator's market data to June 2019, telcos' operating and financial data to Q3 2019, recent market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report:

Wind Tre (3 Italia / Wind Telecom), Telecom Italia (TIM), Vodafone Italia

Market analysis
Mobile statistics

General statistics
Operator market shares

Mobile infrastructure

5G
4G (LTE)
3G
Other infrastructure developments

Narrow-Band IoT (NB-IoT)
M2M

Mobile voice
Mobile data

Short Messaging Service (SMS)
Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS)
Mobile broadband

Regulatory issues

Spectrum regulations and spectrum auctions

Spectrum auctions – 2000
Spectrum auctions – 2011
Spectrum renewal
3.5GHz
Spectrum auction – 2018

Roaming
Network sharing
Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
Mobile Termination Rates (MTRs)

Major mobile operators

Wind Tre (3 Italia/Wind)
TIM
Vodafone Italy
Iliad
Fastweb
MVNOs

Mobile content and applications

Mobile banking/ticketing
Payment services

Appendix – Historic data
Related reports

List of Tables

Table 1 – Growth in the number of SIM and M2M cards – 2009 – 2019
Table 2 – Growth in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration – 2009 – 2024
Table 3 – Decline in mobile service market revenue – 2008 – 2018
Table 4 – Reduction in the mobile device and service price index – 2013 – 2019
Table 5 – Average revenue for mobile service per SIM card – 2017 – 2018
Table 6 – Change in mobile market share of subscribers among main MNOs – 2009 – 2019
Table 7 – Development of prepaid and contract cards in service – 2009 – 2019
Table 8 – Change in the proportion of prepaid and contract cards in service – 2010 – 2019
Table 9 – TIM LTE subscribers – 2015 – 2019
Table 10 – Growth in the number of M2M connections – 2013 – 2019
Table 11 – Mobile voice traffic – 2017 – 2018
Table 12 – Increase in SMS/MMS and other data revenue – 2008 – 2018
Table 13 – Change in SMS traffic – 2008 – 2019
Table 14 – Growth in mobile data traffic – 2008 – 2019
Table 15 – Average data per SIM card per month – 2012 – 2019
Table 16 – Growth in the number of mobile broadband subscribers – 2009 – 2024
Table 17 – Change in TIM’s mobile internet subscriber base – 2013 – 2019
Table 18 – Change in the number of annual mobile numbers ported – 2008 – 2019
Table 19 – Decline in the number of Wind Tre’s registered mobile subscribers – 2008 – 2019
Table 20 – Decline in the number of Wind Tre’s active mobile subscribers – 2012 – 2019
Table 21 – Development of Wind Tre’s annualised ARPU – 2008 – 2019
Table 22 – Development of Wind Tre’s mobile revenue – 2005 – 2019
Table 23 – Development of Wind Tre’s mobile EBITDA, capex – 2011 – 2019
Table 24 – Growth in the number of TIM’s mobile subscribers (include M2M) – 2009 – 2019
Table 25 – TIM active mobile subscribers – 2017 – 2019
Table 26 – TIM mobile revenue by sector (new style) – 2018 – 2019
Table 27 – Decline in Vodafone Italy’s mobile subscriber base – 2009 – 2019
Table 28 – Change in Vodafone Italy’s mobile revenue by type – 2017 – 2020
Table 29 – Decline in Vodafone Italy’s mobile ARPU – 2009 – 2019
Table 30 – Vodafone mobile customer cost – 2007 – 2019
Table 31 – Increase in the number of Fastweb’s mobile subscribers – 2016 – 2019
Table 32 – Growth in the number of MVNO mobile subscribers – 2008 – 2019
Table 33 – Growth in the number of Tiscali’s mobile subscribers – 2013 – 2019
Table 34 – MVNO market share of MVNO subscribers – 2010 – 2018
Table 35 – Historic - Mobile subscribers and penetration rate – 1995; 1997; 1999 – 2009
Table 36 – Mobile market share of subscribers by operator – 2004 – 2009
Table 37 – Historic - Annual mobile numbers ported – 2003 – 2008
Table 38 – Annual mobile numbers portings – 2002 – 2008
Table 39 – Vodafone mobile service revenue by sector – 2010 – 2019

List of Charts

Chart 1 – Growth in the number of SIM and M2M cards – 2009 – 2019
Chart 2 – Growth in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration – 2009 – 2024
Chart 3 – Decline in mobile service market revenue – 2008 – 2018
Chart 4 – Reduction in the mobile device and service price index – 2013 – 2019
Chart 5 – Change in mobile market share of subscribers among main MNOs – 2009 – 2019
Chart 6 – Development of prepaid and contract cards in service – 2009 – 2019
Chart 7 – Change in the proportion of prepaid and contract cards in service – 2010 – 2019
Chart 8 – Growth in the number of M2M connections – 2013 – 2019
Chart 9 – Increase in SMS/MMS and other data revenue – 2008 – 2018
Chart 10 – Change in SMS traffic – 2008 – 2019
Chart 11 – Growth in mobile data traffic – 2008 – 2019
Chart 12 – Average data per SIM card per month – 2012 – 2019
Chart 13 – Growth in the number of mobile broadband subscribers – 2009 – 2024
Chart 14 – Change in TIM’s mobile internet subscriber base – 2013 – 2019
Chart 15 – Change in the number of annual mobile numbers ported – 2008 – 2019
Chart 16 – Decline in the number of Wind Tre’s registered mobile subscribers – 2008 – 2019
Chart 17 – Decline in the number of Wind Tre’s active mobile subscribers – 2012 – 2019
Chart 18 – Development of Wind Tre’s annualised ARPU – 2008 – 2019
Chart 19 – Development of Wind Tre’s mobile revenue – 2005 – 2019
Chart 20 – Development of Wind Tre’s mobile EBITDA, capex – 2011 – 2019
Chart 21 – Growth in the number of TIM’s mobile subscribers (including M2M) – 2009 – 2019
Chart 22 – Decline in TIM’s annualised mobile ARPU – 2009 – 2019
Chart 23 – Decline in TIM’s annualised mobile ARPU – 2009 – 2019
Chart 24 – Development of TIM’s mobile revenue – 2008 – 2019
Chart 25 – Development of TIM’s mobile revenue – 2008 – 2019
Chart 26 – Decline in Vodafone Italy’s mobile subscriber base – 2009 – 2019
Chart 27 – Change in Vodafone Italy’s mobile revenue by type – 2017 – 2020
Chart 28 – Decline in Vodafone Italy’s mobile ARPU – 2009 – 2019
Chart 29 – Growth in the number of MVNO mobile subscribers – 2008 – 2019

List of Exhibits

Exhibit 1 – UMTS auction results – 2000
Exhibit 2 – UMTS auction results – 2009
Exhibit 3 – Spectrum allocations at auction – 2011
Exhibit 4 – Total spectrum outlay by operator – 2011
Exhibit 5 – Wind Tre spectrum concessions

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Italy - Mobile Infrastructure, Broadband, Operators - Statistics and Analyses

Purchase this Report

Synopsis

Key developments:

Companies mentioned in this report:

Market analysis

Mobile statistics

Mobile infrastructure

Mobile voice

Mobile data

Regulatory issues

Major mobile operators

Mobile content and applications

Appendix – Historic data

Related reports

Purchase this Report

Share this Report

TMT Intelligence

A platform to scale your intelligence tasks

Research Methodology

Hot Topics

News & Views