Finland - Mobile Infrastructure, Broadband, Operators - Statistics and Analyses

Finland - Mobile Infrastructure, Broadband, Operators - Statistics and Analyses

Finland has developed one of most advanced mobile markets in Europe, and just as it was in the forefront of LTE developments so has it emerged as one of the pioneers in testing 5G. The regulator in late 2016 auctioned spectrum in the 700MHz to extend the availability of LTE services nationally, while it also planned to make available to network operators spectrum in the 3.5GHz band by the end of 2018. This band is one of the pioneer bands which have been assigned for 5G across Europe. The Finnish vendor Nokia Networks is involved in trialling 5G technologies, mainly in cooperation with Elisa.

Growth in the number of mobile subscribers has slowed, in line with the high penetration, while the market has shifted to mobile data and mobile broadband. To this end the network operators have concentrated on network upgrades, providing improved mobile broadband services to the 99% of the population already covered by LTE. Although market competition and regulated tariffs and termination rates have put pressure on operator revenue. In June April 2018 DNA successfully petitioned for a year's extension to retail roaming tariffs after these were abolished across the European Union.

This report provides statistics and research on the Finnish mobile market, including key regulatory issues, a snapshot of the consumer market, the growth of mobile data services and the development of emerging technologies and networks such as HSPA, LTE and 5G.

Key developments:

Telia and Finnish postal service pilot smart mail boxes with NB-IoT;
DNA upgrades core and regional networks in preparation for 5G;
Elisa upgrades infrastructure in Turku in preparation for 5G services;
Finnish and Swedish regulators agree on use of 3.5GHz spectrum for 5G in border areas;
Regulator concedes roaming charge extension to June 2019;
Telia expands LTE-A footprint;
DNA trials Gigabit LTE service using carrier aggregation technology;
Nokia and Telia trial NB-IoT using spectrum in the 800MHz band;
Telia and DNA make progress with joint mobile network to deliver services in Northern and Eastern Finland;
3.5GHz spectrum available for 5G from the beginning of 2019;
Report update includes the regulator's market data to December 2017, telcos' financial and operating data to Q1 2018, recent market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report:

Telia, DNA, Elisa, Digita.