The Swedish Telecommunications Market - First half year 2009 - PTS-ER-2009:29

19/11/2009

One clear indicator of this technology shift is the fact that the number of broadband subscriptions based on fibre or wireless technology continues to grow, while the technology that previously drove a large proportion of broadband growth (xDSL) now represents a smaller share of the Internet market. The number of active customers with broadband increased from 3.4 million to 4 million between 30 June 2008 and 30 June 2009, corresponding to growth of approximately 17 per cent. Mobile broadband represented a large part of this increase. The demand for broadband access lines with more than 10 Mbps has continued to rise and now comprises 33 per cent of all broadband subscriptions. The decline in the number of xDSL subscriptions that occurred during the last six months of 2008 is continuing. On 30 June 2009, there were 1.7 million subscriptions for broadband via xDSL, which represents a reduction of two per cent over one year.

However, it should be emphasised that xDSL plays a significant role in the development of the telephony segment of the electronic communications market. Although one clear trend in this segment is that mobile telephony is gaining ground, at the expense of traditional fixed telephony, the number of subscriptions for fixed IP-based telephony is showing strong growth. xDSL plays an important role in this context – subscriptions for IP-based telephony via xDSL increased by 45 per cent in the past year, from 179 000 on 30 June 2008 to 260 000 on 30 June 2009.

It can be observed from the above that mobile call and broadband services are gaining ground. This is reflected in, for example, the number of outgoing call minutes in the mobile networks continuing to increase and approaching the number of outgoing call minutes in the fixed networks. The total number of mobile subscriptions is also continuing to rise and there are now more than 11 million such subscriptions. This increase is primarily based on a rising number of mobile broadband subscriptions. The number of SMS sent from mobile telephones is also continuing to grow. The average customer sent 76 SMS per month, which represents an increase of 17 SMS compared with the 59 SMS sent during the corresponding period in 2008. The Survey of Individuals 2009  conducted by the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency (PTS) shows that there has not been any increase in the proportion of individuals who send SMS, but that those who use SMS (regularly) are sending more.

The number of bundled subscriptions has risen by approximately 20 per cent since the turn of the year. The most pronounced increase has been in triple-play services – broadband, fixed telephony and television.