BEREC REPORT ON IMPACT OF FIXED-MOBILE ... - berec - Europa

BoR (11) 54
is extremely heterogeneous: fixed access is very high in countries such as Sweden 19 ,
the Netherlands (89%) and France (87%) whereas no more than 17% of the Czech
households are connected. This heterogeneity is also striking looking at mobile only
households (from 2% to 81% - cf. graph hereafter) and dual access (from 15% to 94%).
Source - E-communication household survey (2011)
Based on this observation, the substitution of fixed-voice by mobile voice services
should be assessed on a case by case basis.
Without entering into a detailed case by case study two extreme patterns can be
identified:
a- Countries with low and decreasing fixed line penetration, offset by an increasing
number of mobile only households (Czech Republic, Finland…cf. Annex 1).
b- Countries with high and steady (or growing) fixed line penetration, and a large
majority of dual access households (France, The Netherlands…cf. Annex 1).
Based on the raw figures shown in Annex 1 (and without prejudice to the necessary
country specific analysis), a trend toward increasing fixed to mobile voice access
substitution may be expected for ‘pattern a countries’ other things being equal (Annex 2
however provides an overview of other possible factors that might influence this trend),
whereas fixed and mobile access seem to be complementary (and not substitutes) in
19 Remark: E-communication household survey shows that the percentage of households having fixed telephone access
in Sweden is 98%. This figure is not consistent with the evaluation made by PTS in 2010 (82%). This difference may be
partially explained by different methodologies. Data collected by E-communication household Survey for Sweden should
nonetheless be regarded as uncertain.
19