United Kingdom - Mobile Data Market Insights - 3G, 4G and 5G
The UK's 3G and mobile data market is one of the largest in Europe. Competition among network operators has induced them to provide similar pricing and usage models, commonly including between 3GB and 10GB per month. This has substantially increased consumer use of mobile data. Low-key data applications such as SMS dominate the market while mobile TV, though widely available, has thus far failed to capture public attention. This report surveys the UK's mobile data market, providing an overview of 3G and 4G developments, regulatory issues and technologies. It also profiles the major operators, presents statistics on non-voice services, and analyses developments in mobile TV and mobile application stores.
Key developments:
Ofcom identifies four frequency bands for 5G use; government secures deal by which operators agree to extend 2G, 3G and 4G network coverage by 2017; Vodafone enters m-health field; MNOs abort plans for Weve m-wallet platform; Payments Council preps for new Paym' service; Ofcom reassess 900MHz and 1800MHz annual licence fees paid by MNOs; O2 closes O2 Wallet service; government updates on release of 500MHz spectrum; UK and German governments sign deal to cooperate in 5G research; 800MHz and 2.6GHz auction delivers lower revenue than forecast; regulator plans for licensing 5G services by 2018; MNOs join the University of Surrey's 5G Innovation Centre; 3UK reports 97% of all network traffic is data; O2 contracts NSN for LTE network; O2 and Vodafone launch LTE services; EE and H3 sign passive LTE network sharing deal; Pingit mobile payment app launched; regulator's market updates; telcos' financial and operating data to Q4 2014; recent market developments.
Companies mentioned in this report include:
H3, O2, Vodafone, Everything Everywhere (EE), Virgin Mobile, UK Broadband.
- 1. Synopsis
- 2. Overview
- 3. Spectrum
- 3.1 Spectrum 2.6GHz
- 3.2 Spectrum 600MHz
- 3.3 Spectrum 800MHz
- 3.4 Spectrum 900MHz
- 3.5 Spectrum 700MHz
- 3.6 Spectrum 1800MHz
- 3.7 Spectrum 2.3GHz and 3.4GHz
- 3.8 Third Generation (3G)
- 3.8.1 Licensing
- 3.8.2 Network sharing
- 3.9 Fourth Generation (4G)
- 3.10 Fifth Generation (5G)
- 3.11 Spectrum refarming
- 4. Operator services 3G
- 4.1 Hutchison 3
- 4.2 O2
- 4.3 Vodafone
- 4.4 Everything Everywhere (EE)
- 5. Mobile Messaging
- 5.1 Short Message Service (SMS)
- 5.2 Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)
- 6. Mobile data services
- 6.1 Consumer use of multimedia services
- 6.1.1 Mobile applications
- 6.1.2 M-payment MNO collaboration
- 6.1.3 Operator platforms
- 6.1.4 Contactless payments
- 6.1.5 M-ticketing
- 6.1.6 M-wallet
- 6.1.7 Banks
- 6.1.8 M-health
- 6.1.9 Application stores
- 6.1.10 Smartphone market
- 6.1.11 Tablet market
- 6.2 High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA)
- 6.3 Long-term Evolution (LTE)
- 6.3.1 H3
- 6.3.2 EE
- 6.3.3 O2
- 6.3.4 Vodafone
- 6.3.5 Other developments
- 6.3.6 Regulatory issues
- 6.4 Mobile TV
- 6.4.1 Spectrum issues
- 6.4.2 Machine-to-Machine (M2M)
- 7. Forecasts UMTS 2007 - 2010; 2015
- 8. Related reports
- Table 1 3G subscribers and percentage of total subscribers 2003 - 2014
- Table 2 3 UK subscribers by sector 2008 - 2013
- Table 3 3 UK revenue by sector 2008 - 2010
- Table 4 3 UK financial data 2008 - 2013
- Table 5 3 UK annualised ARPU by sector 2009 - 2013
- Table 6 O2 financial data 2007 - 2014
- Table 7 O2 subscribers, prepaid and contract 2005 - 2014
- Table 8 Vodafone (UK) subscribers and proportion prepaid 2001 - 2014
- Table 9 Vodafone (UK) financial data 2008 - 2015
- Table 10 EE quarterly revenue 2009 - 2014
- Table 11 EE ARPU 2009 - 2014
- Table 12 EE subscriber data 2009 - 2014
- Table 13 SMS messages sent 2004 - 2014
- Table 14 SMS and MMS traffic 2011 - 2015
- Table 15 SMS and MMS revenue 2011 - 2014
- Table 16 SMS and MMS volumes by operator 2006 - 2010
- Table 17 MMS messages sent 2004 - 2013
- Table 18 Mobile data traffic and revenue increase 2007 - 2013
- Table 19 Mobile data revenue by service 2005 - 2013
- Table 20 Proportion of mobile broadband accesses by technology 2007 - 2013
- Table 21 Smartphone sales and penetration 2007 - 2013
- Table 22 Average 3G and 4G speeds by operator (Mb/s) Q4 2014
- Table 22 Proportion of 4G speed availability by operator Q4 2014
- Table 22 M2M derived revenue 2010 - 2015
- Table 23 M2M connections 2010 - 2015
- Table 24 Forecast UMTS subscribers 2007 - 2012; 2015
- Chart 2 3 UK subscribers by sector 2008 - 2013
- Chart 3 3 UK ARPU by sector 2009 - 2013
- Chart 4 O2 financial data 2007 - 2014
- Chart 5 O2 subscribers, prepaid and contract 2005 - 2014
- Chart 6 Vodafone (UK) subscribers and proportion prepaid 2001 - 2014
- Chart 7 Vodafone (UK) financial data 2008 - 2015
- Chart 8 EE quarterly revenue 2009 - 2014
- Chart 9 EE ARPU 2009 - 2014
- Chart 10 EE subscriber data 2009 - 2014
- Chart 11 SMS and MMS volumes by operator 2006 - 2010
- Chart 12 Smartphone use and penetration 2005 - 2013
- Exhibit 1 Spectrum available for mobile services
- Exhibit 2 Spectrum awards 800MHz and 2.6GHz 2013
- Exhibit 3 3G licence results April 2000
- Exhibit 4 3G licensee and infrastructure suppliers