"Europe is THE continent of mobile communications, with more and more people using mobile phones and mobile broadband services. Despite the global economic crisis, European consumers communicate more than ever with their phones and via the Internet. This is good news for a sector that can help Europe defy the downturn," said Viviane Reding, the EU's Telecoms Commissioner. "But we can't rest on our laurels. We must strengthen national regulators' independence. We also need fairer competition between fixed and mobile operators, in view of increasing convergence between fixed and mobile telephony. Finally, we must prevent a bypassing of EU rules that could harm our single market. I am in particular concerned that many national regulators are going their own way on high-speed internet networks. The road to fair competition and investment in these networks does not lie through 27 different solutions mainly favouring national champions, but through open markets, legal certainty and equal chances for all investors and operators."
Sector growths stronger than rest of economy
Estimated 2008 EU telecoms sector growth is 1.3%, above the overall economy's 1% real GDP growth. It continues to dampen inflation, with prices of most standard communications (like phone calls or surfing the web) still falling.
Mobile: consumers pay 34.5% less than 5 years ago
The mobile market remained the most dynamic telecoms segment in the EU in 2008. Mobile phone use rose from 112% of the population in 2007 to 119% in 2008. Italy, Lithuania and Luxembourg are over 140%. The leading operators' average market share fell by around 3% last year, indicating a more competitive market. As a result, consumers spend more time talking and texting for prices at least 34.5% less than in 2004.
EU countries global leader in high-speed internet
The number of fixed broadband internet connections in the EU keeps growing: 14 million more in 2008, reaching over 114 million in total. Denmark and the Netherlands are world leaders in broadband, with take up over 35% of population. They lead, along with Sweden, Finland, the UK, Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany and France, the US, which was at 25% in July 2008.
Mobile broadband is also taking off; with the number of connections now representing 13% of the EU population. Mobile broadband via data cards and dongles is becoming a viable alternative to fixed broadband in countries like Austria (number of connections equivalent to 11.4% of population), Finland (9.1%) and Portugal (8.3%).
More consumers changing operators
20.5 million consumers switched phone operators in 2008 while keeping their fixed or mobile numbers. By October 2008, about 84 million subscribers (17% of EU citizens) had switched operator since it became possible in 2003.
Still problems for a single European telecoms market
Today's report also said that divergent regulation in different EU countries continues to hinder a real single market for telecoms operators and consumers:
- Independent national telecoms regulators are essential to ensure fair and effective regulation, but are not yet a reality in all 27 EU countries. Infringement proceedings launched by the Commission are pending against Lithuania, Latvia and Romania, while a case against Poland was taken to the European Court of Justice.
- Inconsistent regulation of similar competition problems can be an extra burden on telecoms operators, especially the growing number of companies active in several countries or offering cross-border services.
