Ireland : Mobile Market Insights, Statistics and Forecasts

1. Synopsis

2. Overview of Ireland's mobile market

2.1 Mobile statistics

2.1.1 Operator market shares

3. Regulatory issues

3.1 Spectrum regulations and spectrum auctions

3.1.1 3G spectrum

3.1.2 Digital dividend spectrum

3.1.3 900MHz

3.1.4 1800MHz

3.1.5 26GHz licences

3.1.6 1785-1805MHz band

3.1.7 2.6GHz band

3.1.8 2.3GHz band

3.1.9 70-80GHz band

3.1.10 UHF spectrum

3.2 Roaming

3.2.1 Data roaming

3.3 Mobile Number Portability (MNP)

3.4 Mobile termination rates (MTRs)

3.5 Wideband Digital Mobile Data Services (WDMDS)

3.6 Network sharing

4. Mobile technologies

4.1 Digital

4.2 Third Generation (3G) mobile

4.2.1 Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA)

5. Major mobile operators

5.1 Vodafone Ireland

5.2 O2 Ireland

5.3 Meteor Mobile

5.4 3 Ireland

5.5 MVNOs

6. Mobile voice services

6.1 Prepaid

7. Mobile Messaging

7.1 Short Message Service (SMS)

7.1.1 Premium SMS (PSMS)

7.2 Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)

8. Mobile data services

8.1 General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)

8.2 High-Speed Circuit-Switched Data (HSCSD)

8.3 Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution (EDGE)

8.4 High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA)

8.4.1 Vodafone

8.4.2 O2

8.4.3 3 Ireland

8.4.4 Meteor

8.5 Enhanced High Speed Packet Access (HSPA+)

8.6 Long-term Evolution (LTE)

9. Mobile applications

9.1 Overview

9.2 Mobile TV

9.3 Machine-to-Machine (M2M)

10. Forecasts

10.1 Forecasts mobile ARPU 2009 - 2010; 2015

10.2 Forecasts UMTS subscribers 2009 - 2010; 2015

10.3 Notes on scenario forecasts

11. Related reports

Table 1 Operator blended ARPU 2005 - 2013

Table 2 Historic - Mobile subscribers and penetration rate 1995; 1997; 1999 - 2004

Table 3 Mobile subscribers (inc. Mobile broadband, M2M) and penetration rate 2005 - 2014

Table 4 Mobile subscribers (not mobile broadband, M2M) 2011 - 2014

Table 5 Mobile market revenue, voice and data 2005 - 2013

Table 6 Mobile share of subscribers by operator 2005 - 2013

Table 7 Mobile share of revenue by operator 2005 - 2013

Table 8 European voice roaming charges 2007 - 2014

Table 9 European data roaming charges 2007 - 2014

Table 10 Annual mobile numbers ported 2005 - 2013

Table 11 MTRs by operator 2010 - 2013

Table 12 3G SIM cards in use by type 2011 - 2013

Table 13 Vodafone mobile subscribers 2006 - 2014

Table 14 Vodafone fixed-line subscribers 2010 - 2014

Table 15 Vodafone service revenue 2010 - 2014

Table 16 Vodafone blended ARPU 2006 - 2008; 2010 - 2011

Table 17 O2 mobile financial data 2007 - 2014

Table 18 O2 mobile data statistics 2007 - 2013

Table 19 O2 ARPU, blended, prepaid and contract 2006 - 2013

Table 20 O2 subscribers 2006 - 2014

Table 21 Meteor Mobile subscribers 2006 - 2014

Table 22 Meteor Mobile services revenue 2006 - 2010; 2012- 2014

Table 23 Meteor Mobile ARPU - 2006 2014

Table 24 3 Ireland subscribers 2006 - 2014

Table 25 3 Ireland financial data 2007 - 2014

Table 26 Mobile voice minutes 2005 - 2014

Table 27 Prepaid versus postpaid share of subscribers 2000 - 2013

Table 28 Proportion of prepaid subscribers by operator 2008 - 2013

Table 29 SMS messages sent 2000 - 2014

Table 30 SMS and MMS messages sent per subscriber 2011 - 2013

Table 31 SMS and MMS revenue 2012 - 2013

Table 32 MMS messages sent 2005 - 2014

Table 33 Mobile data as proportion of total revenue 2006 - 2014

Table 34 Data use per subscriber 2011 - 2013

Table 35 Forecast mobile ARPU 2005 - 2012; 2015

Table 36 Forecast UMTS subscribers 2006 - 2010; 2015

Chart 1 Mobile subscribers and penetration rate 2005 - 2014

Chart 2 Mobile market revenue, voice and data 2005 - 2013

Chart 3 Mobile share of subscribers by operator 2006 - 2013

Chart 4 Mobile share of revenue by operator 2006 - 2013

Chart 5 O2 mobile financial data 2007 - 2014

Chart 6 O2 ARPU, blended, prepaid and contract 2006 - 2013

Chart 7 O2 subscribers 2007 - 2014

Exhibit 1 3G licence results June 2002

Exhibit 2 Multiband frequency award process - 2012

Exhibit 3 WDMDS licences: operators, spectrum and fees 2005

Ireland : Mobile Market Insights, Statistics and Forecasts

Ireland's mobile market has undergone considerable changes in recent years. The market enjoys effective competition between five main players as well as a small number of MVNOs, which promise to provide additional market competition in coming years. Mobile broadband, on the back of expanding HSPA networks, has become very popular among consumers since the introduction of flat-rate data plans. The regulator has also set aside UHF spectrum for use by mobile TV services, while spectrum in several bands has been freed up for use by 4G/LTE. This report provides statistics and analysis on the Irish mobile market, including the key regulatory issues, a snapshot of the consumer market, emerging technologies, and the growth of mobile data services.

Key developments:

Eircom and 3 Ireland sign major network sharing deal; Carphone Warehouse and UPC Ireland sign deal to be hosted as MVNOs on 3 Ireland's network; regulator suspends auction of remaining blocks of 1800MHz wireless spectrum after receiving no bids; Meteor and O2 sign network sharing deal; Vodafone and 3 agree to a 50/50 JV; O2 launches MVNO; Hutchison completes acquisition of O2 Ireland for 780 million; SMS traffic shows recovering growth; mobile broadband subscriber base falls; Vodafone increases investment; half of Vodafone subscribers using smartphones; MTRs reduced again; Vodafone fined for roaming data cap breaches; mobile retail revenue and ARPU continue to fall; regulator's market data to Q4 2013; telcos' operating and financial data to Q2 2014; market developments to mid-2014.

Companies covered in this report include:

Vodafone Ireland, O2, Meteor, Eircom Mobile; Tesco Mobile.