For the first time we are spending more money on mobile services than on fixed services

The average amount that a Swedish household paid per month for mobile communications services in 2010 was SEK 296 (plus VAT), an increase of SEK 34 compared with 2009. This increase means that for the first time we are spending more money on mobile communications services than fixed services. The growth in mobile services means that total revenues in the electronic communications market increased by four per cent to SEK 53 billion. This is according to the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency's (PTS) report entitled 'The Swedish Telecommunications Market 2010'.

Almost as many mobile broadband subscriptions as fixed subscriptions

There has been a significant increase – up to 1.2 million subscriptions – in add-on packages for surfing on smart mobile telephones, while there are 1.7 million mobile broadband subscriptions for personal computers. All-in-all there are almost as many subscriptions as for fixed broadband (2.99 million). Broadband via the fixed copper network (xDSL) continues to reduce, while there has been an increase in the number of subscriptions via fibre and cable television networks. There was a 14 per cent growth in fibre subscriptions in 2010, which makes this the fastest growing fixed broadband technology.

Data traffic in mobile networks continues to grow strongly; an increase of just over 90 per cent over the year.

"We have seen a clear trend in recent years, which has shown a significant increase in mobile broadband subscriptions and data traffic in mobile networks at the same time as the total revenues in the market have basically remained the same. It now seems that we are also prepared to pay more for electronic communications,” says Göran Marby, Director General of the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency (PTS). ”This is a good sign prior to the major investments that are to be made in modern fixed and wireless broadband networks that are required to keep Sweden at the cutting edge.”

A quarter of fixed telephony is IP-based

Telephony via the traditional copper network continues to reduce within fixed telephony, while the number of IP-based subscriptions increased to almost 1.2 million, a rise of 23 per cent compared with 2009. This means that one in four fixed telephony subscriptions is IP-based.

Read about PTS's statistics yourself

'The Swedish Telecommunications Market' is an annual report produced by PTS, which describes trends within the areas of fixed and mobile call services as well as data communications and Internet services. A web version of 'The Swedish Telecommunications Market' is available at www.statistics.pts.se. Market shares, in addition to search and sorting options, are published in this report as well as a full range of tables.

It is also worth visiting www.telepriskollen.se (information only in Swedish) for price comparisons and good advice when choosing an operator.

Read the report 

For more information, please contact:
Mattias Viklund, head of Accessibility and Market Analysis, tel. 073-066 57 11 or PTS's Press Office, tel. 08-678 55 55.