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Friday, 08 February 2008 |
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Mobile call volumes to overtake fixed this year in Western Europe, says report.
New research from Analysys Research’s ‘Telecoms Market Matrix’ suggests that the volume of mobile calls in Western Europe will overtake that of fixed-line and broadband calling by the end of this summer. The research shows calling minutes growing by 1.4% per quarter over the last year.
In France, wireless calling levels already exceeds those for fixed networks. The UK is expected to follow suit in Q2 2008. In Italy, the landmark is likely to be reached in Q1 and 2009 although current trends suggest that Germany will not get there until 2010.
"Consumers have relatively constant budgets for voice, and so fixed voice volumes basically reflect the unaffordability of mobile voice”, explains Rupert Wood, Principal Analyst at Analysys Research. “The trick for mobile operators has been to translate stable demand into an affordable proposition - once mobile can meet demand affordably, any kind of competitive pricing for voice on fixed or broadband is largely irrelevant."
Intriguingly, Analysys Research says that Portugal, with the lowest consumption of voice services in Europe, was the first country in the region to see mobile overtake fixed services; by contrast Sweden, with probably the highest penetration of both fixed and mobile users, is likely to be among the last.
Jim Chalmers
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