Italy - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Publication Overview

This report provides a comprehensive overview of trends and developments in Italy’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:- November 2019 (17th Edition)

Executive Summary

Italy’s telcos progress with fibre network sharing

Italy’s large telecom market has one of the highest mobile penetration rates in Europe and has benefitted from progressive government programs aimed at developing the fibre broadband sector. These programs include the Open Fiber project, and plans to merge Open Fibre with TIM’s fixed infrastructure. Regulatory measures have also been introduced to facilitate access to NGNs, and a number of deals have been brokered which enable the main telcos to provide bundled services to large numbers of the population.

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 which has reduced the financial benefit of having SIM cards from different providers. The market underwent considerable changes following the merger of Wind and 3 Italia (becoming Wind Tre), which resulted in a new entrant in the form of Iliad. In mid-2019 Fastweb was recognised as an MNO in its own right, having been an MVNO for some 11 years. 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 analyses the key aspects of the Italian telecom market, providing the latest data and statistics on the fixed network services sector. It also reviews the key regulatory issues including number portability and local loop unbundling. In addition, the report assesses the fixed and fixed wireless broadband sectors, including the burgeoning fibre market. The report also analyses the mobile voice and data markets, including statistics, key regulatory issues and an assessment of deployed technologies and operator strategies in the face of competitive pressures and new opportunities.

Key developments:

BT Italia considers sale of its Italian assets;
Telecom Italia extends superfast broadband to 19 million premises;
TIM and Open Fibre in network merger talks,
Fastweb's fibre network reaching about 60% of the population;
SINFI infrastructure registry helping to reduce cost of deploying fibre by a third;
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;
Report update includes the regulator's market data to June 2019, telcos' operating and financial data to Q3 2019, Telecom Maturity Index charts and analyses; recent market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report:

Telecom Italia (TIM), Fastweb, BT Italia, Tiscali, Wind Tre (3 Italia / Wind Telecom), Vodafone Italia, Metroweb

Henry Lancaster
January 2020

Table of Contents

Key statistics
Telecommunications market

Market analysis
Regional European Market Comparison

Europe Telecom Maturity Index by tier
TMI versus GDP
Mobile and mobile broadband penetration
Fixed versus mobile broadband penetration

Regulatory environment

Historical overview
Regulatory authority
Telecom sector liberalisation
Interconnect
Access
Number Portability (NP)
Carrier PreSelection (CPS)

Fixed network operators

Introduction
Telecom Italia (TIM)
Wind Tre
BT Italia
Tiscali
Fastweb

Telecommunications infrastructure

Overview of the national telecom network
International

Submarine cable networks
Satellite networks

Infrastructure developments

Next Generation Network (NGN)

Smart infrastructure

Smart Cities
Smart meters

Broadband market

Introduction and statistical overview

Broadband statistics
Government support
National Broadband Plan

Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks

Telecom Italia
Fastweb
Tiscali
Wind Tre
Vectoring DSL

Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks

Introduction
Telecom Italia
Fastweb
Other networks
Other developments

Other fixed broadband services

Mobile communications

Market analysis
Mobile statistics

General statistics
Operator market shares

Mobile infrastructure

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

Mobile voice
Mobile data

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

Regulatory issues

Spectrum regulations and spectrum auctions
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

List of Tables

Table 1 – Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities - Italy – 2019 (e)
Table 2 – Development of fixed and mobile sector investment – 2009 – 2018
Table 3 – Share of fixed-line and mobile sector investment by operator – 2010 – 2018
Table 4 – Decline in fixed and mobile market revenue – 2010 – 2018
Table 5 – Change in fixed and mobile retail revenue by type – 2013 – 2018
Table 6 – Change in retail fixed market revenue by type – 2013 – 2018
Table 7 – Development of Telecom Italia’s wholesale access lines by type – 2007 – 2019
Table 8 – Fall in the number of fixed number portings – 2010 – 2017
Table 9 – Change in Telecom Italia’s domestic revenue by sector – 2012 – 2019
Table 10 – Development of Telecom Italia Group’s financial data – 2009 – 2019
Table 11 – Development of Telecom Italia’s domestic financial data – 2009 – 2019
Table 12 – Development in the number of Telecom Italia’s access lines by sector – 2006 – 2019
Table 13 – Tiscali subscribers (Italy) – 2007 – 2019
Table 14 – Decline in Tiscali’s revenue, by sector – 2006 – 2019
Table 15 – Change in Tiscali’s financial data – 2008 – 2019
Table 16 – Development of Fastweb’s financial data (CHF) – 2008 – 2019
Table 17 – Fastweb financial data (CHF) – 2008 – 2018
Table 18 – Change in the number of fixed-line accesses (Telecom Italia and altnets) – 2008 – 2019
Table 19 – Decline in the number of fixed-line in service and teledensity – 2009 – 2024
Table 20 – Change in the number of fixed-line accesses by platform – 2014 – 2019
Table 21 – Change in the market share of fixed-line accesses by operator – 2010 – 2019
Table 22 – International internet bandwidth – 2005 – 2017
Table 23 – Change in the number of fixed retail broadband subscribers by access type – 2009 – 2019
Table 24 – Growth in the number of fixed broadband subscribers and penetration – 2009 – 2024
Table 25 – Change in the share of broadband connections by access type – 2013 – 2018
Table 26 – Growth in broadband penetration by technology – 2009 – 2018
Table 27 – Change in broadband market share of subscribers by operator – 2009 – 2019
Table 28 – Proportion of broadband connections by speed (old style) – 2009 – 2018
Table 29 – Change in the number of broadband connections by speed (old style) – 2009 – 2018
Table 30 – Change in the number of broadband lines by speed (new style) – 2014 – 2019
Table 31 – Change in the proportion of broadband lines by speed (new style) – 2014 – 2019
Table 32 – Growth in fixed broadband data traffic and consumption – 2013 – 2018
Table 33 – Growth in the proportion of broadband and fibre lines as proportion of total access lines – 2013 – 2018
Table 34 – Growth in the number of superfast broadband lines (above 30Mb/s) in service – 2013 – 2019
Table 35 – Decline in the number of DSL connections – 2009 – 2019
Table 36 – Change in the market share of fixed broadband connections by operator – 2011 – 2019
Table 37 – Change in the number of Telecom Italia’s broadband subscribers by type – 2006 – 2019
Table 38 – Change in Telecom Italia’s broadband ARPU – 2006 – 2019
Table 39 – Increase in Telecom Italia’s broadband revenue – 2007 – 2019
Table 40 – Growth in Fastweb’s broadband subscriber base – 2005 – 2019
Table 41 – Decline in Tiscali’s fixed broadband subscriber base – 2007 – 2019
Table 42 – Wind Tre broadband subscribers – 2005 – 2018
Table 43 – Growth in the number of fibre broadband lines by type – 2014 – 2019
Table 44 – Growth in the number of TIM’s fibre connections – 2015 – 2019
Table 45 – Fastweb broadband subscribers – 2015 – 2019
Table 46 – Vodafone fixed-line broadband subscribers – 2014 – 2019
Table 47 – Change in Vodafone Italy’s fixed-line revenue by type – 2018 – 2020
Table 48 – Growth in the number of Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) subscribers– 2013 – 2019
Table 49 – Growth in the number of SIM and M2M cards – 2009 – 2019
Table 50 – Growth in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration – 2009 – 2024
Table 51 – Decline in mobile market revenue – 2008 – 2018
Table 52 – Reduction in the mobile device and service price index – 2013 – 2019
Table 53 – Average revenue for mobile service per SIM card – 2017 – 2018
Table 54 – Change in mobile market share of subscribers among main MNOs – 2009 – 2019
Table 55 – Development of prepaid and contract cards in service – 2009 – 2019
Table 56 – Change in the proportion of prepaid and contract cards in service – 2010 – 2019
Table 57 – TIM LTE subscribers – 2015 – 2019
Table 58 – Growth in the number of M2M connections – 2013 – 2019
Table 59 – Mobile voice traffic – 2017 – 2018
Table 60 – Increase in SMS/MMS and other data revenue – 2008 – 2018
Table 61 – Change in SMS traffic – 2008 – 2019
Table 62 – Growth in mobile data traffic – 2008 – 2019
Table 63 – Average data per SIM card per month – 2012 – 2019
Table 64 – Growth in the number of mobile broadband subscribers – 2009 – 2024
Table 65 – Change in TIM’s mobile internet subscriber base – 2013 – 2019
Table 66 – Change in the number of annual mobile numbers ported – 2008 – 2019
Table 67 – Decline in the number of Wind Tre’s registered mobile subscribers – 2008 – 2019
Table 68 – Decline in the number of Wind Tre’s active mobile subscribers – 2012 – 2019
Table 69 – Development of Wind Tre’s annualised ARPU – 2008 – 2019
Table 70 – Development of Wind Tre’s mobile revenue – 2005 – 2019
Table 71 – Development of Wind Tre’s mobile EBITDA, capex – 2011 – 2019
Table 72 – Growth in the number of TIM’s mobile subscribers (include M2M) – 2009 – 2019
Table 73 – TIM active mobile subscribers – 2017 – 2019
Table 75 – Development of TIM’s domestic mobile revenue – 2008 – 2019
Table 76 – TIM mobile revenue by sector (new style) – 2018 – 2019
Table 77 – Decline in Vodafone Italy’s mobile subscriber base – 2009 – 2019
Table 78 – Change in Vodafone Italy’s mobile revenue by type – 2017 – 2020
Table 79 – Decline in Vodafone Italy’s mobile ARPU – 2009 – 2019
Table 80 – Vodafone mobile customer cost – 2007 – 2019
Table 81 – Increase in the number of Fastweb’s mobile subscribers – 2016 – 2019
Table 82 – Growth in the number of MVNO mobile subscribers – 2008 – 2019
Table 83 – Growth in the number of Tiscali’s mobile subscribers – 2013 – 2019
Table 84 – MVNO market share of MVNO subscribers – 2010 – 2018
Table 85 – Historic - Fixed and mobile market investment – 2004 – 2009
Table 86 – Historic - Telecom Italia fixed network revenue by sector (old reporting) – 2006 – 2012
Table 87 – Historic - Telecom Italia Group financial data – 2005 – 2009
Table 88 – Historic - Telecom Italia domestic financial data – 2005 – 2009
Table 89 – Historic - Fastweb financial data (€) – 2005 – 2009
Table 90 – Historic - Fixed and mobile market investment – 2004 – 2009
Table 91 – Historic - Wind subscribers by sector – 2006 – 2018
Table 92 – Historic - Wind annualised fixed-line ARPU – 2006 – 2018
Table 93 – Historic - Wind financial data – 2006 – 2018
Table 94 – Historic - Wind Tre fixed-line revenue – 2015 – 2018
Table 95 – Historic - NGA lines and proportion of total lines – 2011 – 2016
Table 96 – Historic - Internet subscribers and penetration rate – 1991 – 2015
Table 97 – Historic - Fixed retail broadband subscribers by access type – 2002 – 2009
Table 98 – Historic - Broadband penetration by technology – 2004 – 2009
Table 99 – Historic - DSL connections – 2002 – 2009
Table 100 – Historic - Altnet fibre broadband lines – 2012 – 2017
Table 101 – Historic - Mobile subscribers and penetration rate – 1995; 1997; 1999 – 2009
Table 102 – Mobile market share of subscribers by operator – 2004 – 2009
Table 103 – Historic - Annual mobile numbers ported – 2003 – 2008
Table 104 – Annual mobile numbers portings – 2002 – 2008
Table 105 – Vodafone mobile service revenue by sector – 2010 – 2019

List of Charts

Chart 1 – Development of fixed and mobile sector investment – 2009 – 2018
Chart 2 – Decline in fixed and mobile market revenue – 2010 – 2018
Chart 3 – Change in fixed and mobile retail revenue by type – 2013 – 2018
Chart 4 – Change in fixed market revenue by type – 2013 – 2018
Chart 5 – Europe Telecoms Maturity Index – Market Leaders (top tier)
Chart 6 – Europe Telecoms Maturity Index – Market Challengers (middle tier)
Chart 7 – Europe Telecoms Maturity Index – Market Emergents (bottom tier)
Chart 8 – Overall view - Telecoms Maturity Index vs GDP per Capita
Chart 9 – Europe - mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration
Chart 10 – Scandinavia and Baltics: mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration
Chart 11 – Northern Europe –mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration
Chart 12 – Southern Europe mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration
Chart 13 – Eastern Europe mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration
Chart 14 – Scandinavia and Baltics fixed and mobile broadband penetration
Chart 15 – Northern Europe fixed and mobile broadband penetration
Chart 16 – Southern Europe fixed and mobile broadband penetration
Chart 17 – Eastern Europe fixed and mobile broadband penetration
Chart 18 – Development of TIM’s wholesale accesses lines by type – 2007 – 2019
Chart 19 – Fall in the number of fixed number portings – 2010 – 2017
Chart 20 – Change in Telecom Italia’s domestic revenue by sector – 2012 – 2019
Chart 21 – Development of Telecom Italia Group’s financial data – 2009 – 2019
Chart 22 – Telecom Italia domestic revenue – 2005 – 2018
Chart 23 – Development in the in number of Telecom Italia’s access lines by sector – 2006 – 2019
Chart 24 – Decline in Tiscali’s revenue, by sector – 2006 – 2019
Chart 25 – Change in Tiscali’s financial data – 2008 – 2019
Chart 26 – Change in the number of fixed-line accesses (Telecom Italia and altnets) – 2008 – 2019
Chart 27 – Decline in the number of fixed-line in service and teledensity – 2009 – 2024
Chart 28 – Change in the number of fixed-line accesses by platform – 2014 – 2019
Chart 29 – Change in the market share of fixed-line accesses by operator – 2010 – 2019
Chart 30 – Change in the number of fixed retail broadband subscribers by access type – 2009 – 2019
Chart 31 – Growth in the number of fixed broadband subscribers and penetration – 2009 – 2024
Chart 32 – Change in the share of broadband connections by access type – 2013 – 2018
Chart 33 – Growth in broadband penetration by technology – 2009 – 2018
Chart 34 – Change in broadband market share of subscribers by operator – 2009 – 2019
Chart 35 – Change in the number of broadband lines by speed (new style) – 2014 – 2019
Chart 36 – Change in the proportion of broadband lines by speed (new style) – 2014 – 2019
Chart 37 – Growth in fixed broadband data traffic and consumption – 2013 – 2018
Chart 38 – Growth in the proportion of broadband and fibre lines as proportion of total access lines – 2013 – 2018
Chart 39 – Growth in the number of superfast broadband lines (above 30Mb/s) in service – 2013 – 2019
Chart 40 – Decline in the number of DSL connections – 2009 – 2019
Chart 41 – Change in the market share of fixed broadband connections by operator – 2011 – 2019
Chart 42 – Change in the number of Telecom Italia’s broadband subscribers by type – 2006 – 2019
Chart 43 – Change in Telecom Italia’s broadband ARPU – 2006 – 2019
Chart 44 – Increase in Telecom Italia’s broadband revenue – 2007 – 2019
Chart 45 – Growth in Fastweb’s broadband subscriber base – 2005 – 2019
Chart 46 – Decline in Tiscali’s fixed broadband subscriber base – 2007 – 2019
Chart 47 – Growth in the number of fibre broadband lines by type – 2014 – 2019
Chart 48 – Growth in the number of TIM’s fibre connections – 2015 – 2019
Chart 49 – Growth in the number of Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) subscribers– 2013 – 2019
Chart 50 – Growth in the number of SIM and M2M cards – 2009 – 2019
Chart 51 – Growth in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration – 2009 – 2024
Chart 52 – Decline in mobile service market revenue – 2008 – 2018
Chart 53 – Reduction in the mobile device and service price index – 2013 – 2019
Chart 54 – Change in mobile market share of subscribers among main MNOs – 2009 – 2019
Chart 55 – Development of prepaid and contract cards in service – 2009 – 2019
Chart 56 – Change in the proportion of prepaid and contract cards in service – 2010 – 2019
Chart 57 – Growth in the number of M2M connections – 2013 – 2019
Chart 58 – Increase in SMS/MMS and other data revenue – 2008 – 2018
Chart 59 – Change in SMS traffic – 2008 – 2019
Chart 60 – Growth in mobile data traffic – 2008 – 2019
Chart 61 – Average data per SIM card per month – 2012 – 2019
Chart 62 – Growth in the number of mobile broadband subscribers – 2009 – 2024
Chart 63 – Change in TIM’s mobile internet subscriber base – 2013 – 2019
Chart 64 – Change in the number of annual mobile numbers ported – 2008 – 2019
Chart 65 – Decline in the number of Wind Tre’s registered mobile subscribers – 2008 – 2019
Chart 66 – Decline in the number of Wind Tre’s active mobile subscribers – 2012 – 2019
Chart 67 – Development of Wind Tre’s annualised ARPU – 2008 – 2019
Chart 68 – Development of Wind Tre’s mobile revenue – 2005 – 2019
Chart 69 – Development of Wind Tre’s mobile EBITDA, capex – 2011 – 2019
Chart 70 – Growth in the number of TIM’s mobile subscribers (including M2M) – 2009 – 2019
Chart 71 – Decline in TIM’s annualised mobile ARPU – 2009 – 2019
Chart 72 – Development of TIM’s mobile revenue – 2008 – 2019
Chart 73 – Decline in Vodafone Italy’s mobile subscriber base – 2009 – 2019
Chart 74 – Change in Vodafone Italy’s mobile revenue by type – 2017 – 2020
Chart 75 – Decline in Vodafone Italy’s mobile ARPU – 2009 – 2019
Chart 76 – Growth in the number of MVNO mobile subscribers – 2008 – 2019

List of Exhibits

Exhibit 1 – Generalised Market Characteristics by Market Segment
Exhibit 2 – Access and the local loop
Exhibit 3 - Principal backbone providers
Exhibit 4 – WiMAX licensees – 2010
Exhibit 5 – UMTS auction results – 2000
Exhibit 6 – UMTS auction results – 2009
Exhibit 7 – Spectrum allocations at auction – 2011
Exhibit 8 – Total spectrum outlay by operator – 2011
Exhibit 9 – Wind Tre spectrum concessions

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Number of pages 204

Status Current

Last updated 18 Nov 2019
Update History

Analyst: Henry Lancaster

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Italy - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Italy’s telcos progress with fibre network sharing

Key developments:

Companies mentioned in this report:

Key statistics

Telecommunications market

Regulatory environment

Fixed network operators

Telecommunications infrastructure

Broadband market

Mobile communications

Appendix – Historic data