Belgium's mobile market is served by the three network operators Proximus, Orange Belgium and BASE (owned by Liberty Global's local unit Telenet) and by a number of MVNOs. Mobile networks have upgraded with HSPA and LTE technologies while Proximus and Telenet have initiated trials to develop services based on 5G. The market continues to see activity, with two new MVNOs licensed in late 2016 and with Lycamobile acquiring Telenet's MVNO Ortel Mobile in June 2017. With BASE already the dominant host network for MVNO, the switch of Lycamobile from the Orange Belgium to the BASE network meant that BASE now commands about 90% of all wholesale mobile connections.
This report profiles Belgian's mobile market, providing the latest statistics on the main players, as well as recent developments on HSPA and LTE rollouts as well as the future deployment of 5G.
Key developments:
Lycamobile Belgium switches host network from Orange Belgium to BASE;
Proximus delivers on 5G trials with Huawei;
Mobistar rebrands as Orange Belgium;
Pre-paid mobile SIM cards registration comes into force;
Broadband Belgium to set up TD-LTE wireless network using 3.5GHz and 10.5GHz spectrum;
Telenet acquires BASE for 1.325 billion;
Orange Belgium adds mobile telephony to bundled offers;
Regulator concludes 2.6GHz auction, achieves 360 million at auction for 800MHz spectrum;
BASE receives 900MHz licence extension;
Report update includes the regulator's market data update for 2016, regulator's 2016 annual report, telcos' financial and operating data to Q1 2018, recent market developments.
Companies mentioned in this report:
Proximus, Orange Belgium (Mobistar), BASE, Telenet, Lycamobile Belgium.
- 1. Synopsis
- 2. Market analysis
- 3. Mobile statistics
- 3.1 General statistics
- 4. Mobile infrastructure
- 4.1 5G
- 4.2 4G (LTE)
- 4.3 3G/UMTS
- 4.4 GSM
- 5. Internet of Things (IoT)
- 5.1 Machine-to-Machine (M2M)
- 6. Mobile data
- 6.1 Short Message Service (SMS)
- 6.2 SMS over fixed networks
- 6.3 Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)
- 7. Mobile broadband
- 8. Forecasts mobile subscribers 2018; 2020; 2022
- 9. Regulatory issues
- 9.1 Spectrum
- 9.1.1 GSM
- 9.1.2 Third Generation (3G) mobile
- 9.1.3 Network sharing
- 9.1.4 700MGz
- 9.1.5 800MHz spectrum
- 9.1.6 900MHz spectrum
- 9.1.7 2.1GHz spectrum
- 9.1.8 2.6GHz spectrum
- 9.1.9 SIM card registration
- 9.2 Roaming
- 9.3 Mobile Termination Rates (MTRs)
- 9.4 Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
- 10. Major mobile operators
- 10.1 Proximus
- 10.2 Orange Belgium (Mobistar)
- 10.3 BASE
- 10.4 Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs)
- 11. Mobile content and applications
- 11.1 Location-based services
- 11.2 Mobile TV
- 12. Related reports
- Table 1 Mobile service revenue 2012 - 2016
- Table 2 Historical Active mobile/SIM card subscribers and penetration 1999 - 2009
- Table 3 Active mobile/SIM card subscribers and teledensity 2010 - 2018
- Table 4 Market share by operator 2002 - 2016
- Table 5 Mobile ARPU 2005 - 2016
- Table 6 Mobile voice traffic 2005 - 2016
- Table 7 Average use of service per subscriber per month 2010 - 2016
- Table 8 Mobile prepaid and contract subscribers (MNOs) 2011 - 2016
- Table 9 Mobile prepaid and contract subscribers (MNOs and MVNOs) 2011 - 2016
- Table 10 LTE subscribers 2012 - 2016
- Table 11 M2M connections 2011 - 2016
- Table 12 M2M revenue 2014 - 2016
- Table 13 Orange Belgium M2M connections 2009 - 2017
- Table 14 Orange Belgium M2M revenue 2009 - 2012
- Table 15 Data traffic on mile networks 2012 - 2016
- Table 16 Proximus mobile data traffic 2015 - 2017
- Table 17 Proximus SMS messages (CBU) 2008 - 2014
- Table 18 SMS traffic 2001 - 2016
- Table 19 Mobile broadband subscribers by technology 2008 - 2016
- Table 20 Mobile broadband penetration by technology 2009 - 2015
- Table 21 Mobile subscribers 2018; 2020; 2022
- Table 22 800MHz auction results 2013
- Table 23 2.6GHz auction results 2011
- Table 24 Spectrum assignment overview
- Table 26 European roaming charges 2014 - 2017
- Table 27 Mobile termination tariffs 2006 2013; 2015
- Table 28 Mobile termination revenue (historic) 2007 - 2012
- Table 29 Annual mobile numbers ported 2002 - 2016
- Table 30 Proximus mobile revenue by sector (CBU) 2007 - 2017
- Table 31 Proximus mobile subscribers 2005 2017
- Table 32 Proximus CBU subscribers by type 2007 - 2017
- Table 33 Proximus annualised ARPU (CBU) by sector 2007 - 2017
- Table 34 Orange Belgium subscribers (Belgium) 2007 2018
- Table 35 Orange Belgium MVNOs subscribers (Belgium) 2014 2018
- Table 36 Orange Belgium financial data 2013 - 2018
- Table 37 Orange Belgium mobile services revenue 2005 - 2018
- Table 38 Orange Belgium annualised ARPU 2005 - 2017
- Table 39 Orange Belgium annualised ARPO 2017 - 2018
- Table 40 BASE mobile revenue 2007 - 2018
- Table 41 BASE subscribers 2004 - 2015
- Table 42 Telenet mobile subscribers 2006 - 2018
- Table 43 BASE annualised ARPU 2005 - 2015
- Table 44 MVNO revenue 2014 - 2016
- Table 45 MVNO subscribers and market share 2006 - 2016
- Table 46 MVNO mobile voice traffic and market share (historic) 2006 - 2012
- Chart 1 Mobile/SIM card subscribers and teledensity 2005 - 2018
- Chart 2 Market share by operator 2002 - 2016
- Chart 3 Proximus CBU subscribers by type 2007 - 2017
- Chart 4 Proximus annualised ARPU (CBU) by sector 2007 - 2017
- Chart 5 BASE annualised ARPU 2005 - 2015
- Exhibit 1 Key global developments towards 5G standardisation
- Exhibit 2 5G spectrum, speed and devices
- Exhibit 3 - Key considerations for government and regulators in relation to 5G