On-going consolidation in mobile markets in Europe significantly impacts country market structure. Competition to increase especially in Eastern Europe

Stuttgart, Germany — 22nd November 2007 — According to the newest edition of Mobile Quarterly Monitoring — Subscriber Market Share, from InfoCom, the independent market analyst specialist, during 2Q07, the merger and acquisition activities of telecom companies and groups as well as the entry of new market players had a significant impact on the market shares based on subscribers of several mobile operators in Europe.

In Europe, TeliaSonera acquired MVNOs in Denmark and Latvia, through its local subsidiaries TeliaSonera Denmark and Latvian Mobile Telephone (LMT) increasing the group’s subscriber base. TeliaSonera Denmark gained 235 000 subscribers thanks to the acquisition of debitel, a Danish MVNO that previously used Sonofon’s network, increasing its market share based on mobile subscribers increased by 4% to 23.3%.

In Greece, the consolidation of Q-Telecom’s mobile operations with its parent, Wind Hellas Telecom (formerly TIM Stet Hellas) also resulted in a substantial growth in Wind Hellas Telecom’s market share, which increased 8.4% to 28.6% in 2Q07. Despite a significant market share jump, positioning of the three mobile carriers remained unchanged with Wind Hellas Telecom ranking third after Cosmote and Vodafone, respectively.

Trends in the mobile penetration rates in Western Europe monitored during the quarter indicate the over-saturation of these markets: only two countries had penetration rates below 100% — Belgium with over 96% and France with 82%. And the same trend may be observed in Eastern Europe, where only Slovenia, Hungary and Slovakia had penetration rates below 100% among the ten countries monitored in the region. It is expected that in 3Q07, competition will increase in the Polish and Montenegrin mobile markets as Polish MVNO P4 plans to transfer its mobile traffic to UMTS network, currently under construction, and Montenegrin mobile operator m:tel, a subsidiary of Telekom Srbija, launched commercial services in July 2007.

Please visit http://www.infocom-de.com/pressarchives/press_221107.html to see the graph.
Fig. 1- Subscriber penetration rates in a selection of Eastern European countries (2004-2008)

About Mobile Quarterly Monitoring — Subscriber Market Share: the Mobile Quarterly Monitoring — Subscriber Market Share is currently available on a yearly subscription basis. It provides a large amount of indicators — among which market size and shares, by carrier — for over 30 countries worldwide — among which Hong Kong, Singapore and Turkey recently added as part of our ongoing product development efforts — with forecasts until 2010.

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InfoCom is a market research and consultancy company with almost 20 years experience providing strategic analyses and planning assistance to stakeholders in the telecommunications, IT and multimedia industries. InfoCom’s independent and fact-based analyses highlight trends and opportunities, supporting decision makers to understand market dynamics in order to improve their competitive advantage.
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