Telecommunications market in EU countries

5G Development in Europe

Main article: 5G development in Europe

Internet regulation in EU countries

Main article: Regulation of the Internet in the EU countries

2012-2013: Lower sales

The European Commission presented in the summer of 2014 a report on the state of the telecommunications industry in the EU member states in 2012-2013. The document notes that during this period, industry revenues continued to decline. So, compared to the previous 2011-2012, they, on average, in the EU, decreased by 3.3% - from 335 billion euros to 324 billion euros. At the same time, the growth that was still achieved in some countries (including Luxembourg, Romania, Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, the Czech Republic and Finland) was offset by a noticeable drop in income in the telecommunications markets in others. Among the latter are Latvia, Portugal, the Netherlands and Spain^[1]

The decline in revenues observed in the telecommunications markets of the EU countries in 2012-2013 occurred against the backdrop of a decrease in the use of traditional telephony services and with the growing popularity of VoIP services. At the same time, as a separate trend, the report notes a rapid increase in data traffic, which is observed everywhere. Interestingly, although prices for voice transmission over cellular networks and for mobile data transmission in the European Union countries were higher than in the United States, the North American market managed to achieve a higher ARPU. The explanation given in the European Commission report is simple - overseas subscribers consume more services than in the EU member states.

As a positive factor, the report presents the growing investment in the development of the industry in the EU. Of course, it is not the same in all participating countries. The most active investments in telecommunications in 2012-2013 were Ireland, Great Britain, Cyprus and Estonia. And the average rate of gain was 1.2% - to 42 billion euros from 41.5 billion euros in 2011-2012.

Also in the report of the European Commission, in the context of the development of markets and their competitiveness, the issues of the availability of passive infrastructure in the participating countries, the management of the use of the radio frequency spectrum, the development of national projects in the field of broadband access and their financing, universal service and network neutrality are considered.

See also

• Eurozone economy

Notes