In Tefficient’s 42nd public analysis of mobile data trends, 123 operators are ranked based on metrics like average data usage per subscription, total data traffic, and revenue per gigabyte.
In 2023, 93% of operators experienced growth in data usage per subscription, with 71% of them successfully converting this into higher ARPU.
Continue reading Fewer operators capitalised on pricing power to deliver “more for more”
Tefficient’s 41st public analysis of mobile data development and drivers compares 39 countries worldwide, where M2M/IoT can be excluded from the total bases. Mobile data usage grew in 38 of these, with Bahrain as the only exception.
Finland no longer leads in usage
For the first time since 2013, Finland doesn’t lead in usage. Saudi Arabia is the new world leader with more than 45 GB per average subscription in 2023.
Continue reading Change at the top as growth slowsThe Hellenic Telecommunications & Post Commission, EETT, functions as Greece’s national regulatory authority for telecommunications.
In response to EETT’s request, Tefficient has conducted an extensive benchmark analysis, focusing on value for money, spanning twelve EU and Euro countries: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Spain.
While the primary focus of the benchmark is on Greece, its insights provide valuable perspectives for the telecommunications industry in the remaining eleven countries.
Key conclusions for Greece include:
Several selected example graphs are presented below.
Continue reading Evaluating mobile service value for money across 12 EU countriesDuring the early days of 5G, the mobile industry was sometimes caught saying that mobile – with the help of 5G – would kill Wi-Fi. That hasn’t happened, obviously. Usage of public Wi-Fi hotspots would likely decline if more users had mobile data plans that are unlimited in volume. T-Mobile suggested it in this blog post from December 2021.
But even if so, few users would stop using their Wi-Fi at home. Home is where Wi-Fi connects automatically and where a majority of usage takes place.
Ironically, the greatest use case for 5G so far is to substitute fixed broadband. 5G has encouraged many MNOs globally to, for the first time, seriously push fixed wireless access, or FWA, services using their mobile networks. Why is it ironic? The mobile industry has for more than a decade specified and built 5G, the most advanced and best mobile technology so far, but its primary use case to date is fixed. Sitting still.
While FWA could substitute a fixed broadband connection, especially DSL and cable, it does not substitute Wi-Fi, though. The FWA router converts 5G into Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi, not 5G, remains the interface to the connected devices in the home.
So while we, already, are tired of our own headline and the whole notion of “Wi-Fi vs. 5G”, we need to check the facts. After all, we are Tefficient and believers in data.
Continue reading Are fixed and Wi-Fi actually losing ground to mobile?
Tefficient’s 40th public analysis of mobile data development and drivers compares 47 countries worldwide, including M2M/IoT in the total bases. Mobile data usage grew in 44 of them, with Austria, Bahrain and China being exceptions.
If you’d rather see the analysis excluding M2M, go here.
When usage grows, the growth rates are slowing. Cyprus, however, had an astonishing growth rate of 123%, in stark contrast to much slower growth rates, or even declines, elsewhere.
Continue reading Human customers subsidise M2M/IoT customers
Tefficient’s 39th public analysis of mobile data development and drivers compares 39 countries worldwide, where M2M/IoT can be excluded from the total bases. Mobile data usage grew in 38 of them – with Bahrain as the only exception.
If you’d rather see the analysis including M2M, go here.
When usage grows, the growth rates are slowing. Portugal leads with a growth rate of 47%, contrasting with Taiwan‘s modest 8% growth. Bahrain experienced a decline of 6% in data usage.
Data-only subscriptions continue to dominate average mobile data usage, although their market share remains limited. Latvia‘s average data-only subscription consumed 138 GB per month in 2022 while Austria recorded 115 GB in the first half of 2023. In the FWA-only category, Australia had a remarkable 334 GB per month in 1H 2023.
While data-only drives traffic, the same can’t be said for 5G
Reporting is imperfect, but there are only three countries with disproportionately high 5G traffic in relation to their 5G bases: South Korea, Austria and Saudi Arabia. We explain what these countries do and what other countries are missing.
Continue reading Data-only drives traffic. The same can’t be said for 5G.
Tefficient, in its 38th public analysis of mobile data trends, has ranked 116 operators based on metrics like average data usage per subscription, total data traffic and revenue per gigabyte. This issue covers the full year of 2022 and the first half of 2023.
Notably, 97% of operators witnessed an upswing in data usage per subscription in 2022, with 75% of them successfully translating this into increased ARPU.
Continue reading Mobile operators demonstrate strengthened ability to improve ARPU on the back of data usage growthReference: Analysis, 2023
Norway’s Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development last week published two analyses commissioned from Tefficient.
The conclusion is summarised (in Norwegian) in a press release from the Ministry.
Both analyses are quite comprehensive and compare Norway to the three fellow Nordic countries Denmark, Sweden and Finland. It means that they are highly interesting not just for the industry and policy makers in Norway, but in all four countries.
An example graph from the fixed analysis:
Since the Ministry has made both analyses available for public download, you can access them directly and for free from here:
Continue reading Assessment of Norwegian mobile and fixed broadband pricing in a Nordic context – 2023
Tefficient’s 37th public analysis of mobile data development and drivers compares trends across 37 countries worldwide, excluding M2M/IoT from the total bases.
Previous analyses have shown that the pandemic led to a significant increase in mobile data usage. However, the demand for more mobile data has since slowed down. In 2022, Czechia experienced the highest growth rate in mobile data usage, reaching 59%. At the other end of the spectrum, Qatar and Taiwan had relatively lower increases, both below 9%.
Continue reading ARPU growth almost always slower than inflation
Tefficient’s 36th public analysis of the development and drivers of mobile data compares the trends of 45 countries globally.
In our previous analyses, we saw that the pandemic led to an increase in the mobile data usage. The demand for more mobile data has since slowed. Czechia experienced the fastest growth in mobile data usage in 2022: 56%. On the other end of the spectrum, Iceland witnessed a decrease in usage. Austria, China, Malaysia and Norway had some increase, but it was below 9%.
Continue reading High data usage countries do better on ARPU development than low-usage countries