25 June, 2014
Press release: ETNO releases interim Annual Economic Report results at the ETNO-MLex Regulatory Summit
Brussels, 25 June 2014 – ETNO, together with the consultancy IDATE, publishes every December an Annual Economic Report – summarizing the telecoms industry fundamentals.
On the occasion of the 2014 ETNO-MLex Regulatory Summit, ETNO has released interim data, developed by IDATE, which gives an overview of the industry performance in the period 2009-2013 and shows important forecasts for 2014.
High-level delegates from the European Commission, Regulatory bodies, Telecom Operators, Think Tanks, Investors and other industry stakeholders came together for the Summit to discuss key telecom regulatory issues including Net Neutrality and innovation in the Internet value chain and the future of Regulation in Europe.
Luigi Gambardella, Chairman of the Executive Board of ETNO, said: “Telecom operators kept up their level of investments in times of crisis and committed to deploying next generation networks. But CAPEX figures remained rather flat. We believe regulation should evolve to allow operators to respond to new challenges and unlock a new season of investments”.
Daniel Pataki, ETNO Director said: “We need a change of mindset. Let the next Commission be a Digital Commission. One in which policies and regulation are streamlined towards achieving more investments and innovation to the benefit of all”.
Facts & Figures
Telecom service revenues
Telecom retail service revenues have contracted year after year between 2009 and 2013 – a trend that is expected to continue in 2014.
Subscriptions up, ARPU down
Continued growth of both fixed and mobile broadband subscriptions is not expected to compensate the decrease of the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU), which is predicted to remain flat or decrease slightly.
Investments flat, OTTs value shift confirmed
Despite the challenging environment, telecom operators are continuing to make sustained investment efforts, devoting a higher share of their revenues to investments. The aggregate capital expenditure of the top 10 European telecom operators remains flat however at about 47/48 billion Euros per year during the period 2010-2013. This against a scenario in which figures on revenues confirm that, while telecom operators' revenue decrease, those of the Over-the-top-players keep on increasing:
LTE and NGA growing
Despite the challenging environment, telecom operators are committed to deploying fast and superfast networks. There availability has increased:
