Communications Regulatory Authority

Europe, fixed network services
The European fixed network services market (Figure 1.8.) has reached a value of
136 billion euro, with a 2.2% increase over 2004, a result of the decrease (-1.1%) in
voice services and the simultaneous increase (+10.3%) in data services.
As in the case of the other regional contexts, the reduction of the value of the
fixed network voice segment is by now a consolidated trend aided by the partial
replacement of the fixed with the mobile network (which determines a shift of traffic
flows toward fixed-mobile and mobile-mobile lines and the phasing out, in some cases,
of the fixed line), the migration of dial-up services to broadband Internet access
services, and the competition deriving, for example, from the VoIP and ADSL voice
services.
Figure 1.8. Europe: fixed network services market, breakdown between voice and data
(revenues in billion euro)
Source: IDC, 2006 | * Forecasts
Data
Voice
With regard to this latter point, the lines with IP and ADSL voice services have
gone, in Western European countries, from 2.5 million at the end of 2004 to 6 million a
year later, an increase of 140%. The growth may be attributed mainly to the offerings of
the alternative operators, which use the broadband lines to provide users with a voice
line, often enabling them to terminate their contracts with the incumbent operator. In
this competitive context, even various incumbent operators have launched offerings of
ADSL voice services that allow the user to obtain significant savings on calls.
The result of the competitive process in course has thus been the reduction of
prices and the broadening of the range of fixed network telephone services.
As for the broadband connections, growth has been particularly marked in the
European area. In particular, with regard to the Western European countries (Figure
20