France: Operator and Government Focus on Providing Ultra-Fast Speed Mobile and Fixed Broadband to Drive Market Growth
Summary
In 2016, France generated telecom service revenue of US$37.5bn (1.5% of nominal GDP), a decline of -0.5% in EUR from 2015 due to further decline in ARPS as a result of competition-induced price cuts. Mobile data was the largest revenue-contributing segment and accounted for 28.6% of total service revenue in 2016, closely followed by the fixed broadband segment with 28.3%.
It is expected that overall service revenue to grow at a CAGR of 1.5% in EUR during 2016-2021. Growth in the market over the forecast period will be driven by higher ARPS resulting from the rise in demand for high-speed fixed and mobile data services. The fixed/mobile revenue split will be dominated by the mobile segment through 2016-2021 with mobile revenue set to account for 54.6% of total service revenue in 2021.
3G remained the most used technology and accounted for 57.7% of mobile subscriptions in 2016. However, its share will decline over the forecast period due to rising adoption of 4G services and the expected launch of 5G by 2020. 4G subscriptions will grow at a CAGR of 14.5% during the forecast period to 63.5m subscriptions (67.6% of total mobile subscriptions) by 2021, driven by increasing demand for high-speed mobile data services and LTE network expansions. Broadband lines will also see considerable growth during 2016-2021, with broadband penetration set to increase from 42.9% of the population in 2016 to 49.4% by 2021. Growth will be driven by government efforts and operators’ investments for expansion of fixed broadband services.
The top two operators, Orange France (Orange) and SFR (formerly Numericable-SFR), accounted for 66.3% of total service revenue in 2016. We forecast Orange to continue to maintain its leadership position in the telecom market through 2021, both in terms of revenue and subscriptions. Operators are focusing on network expansion and upgrades, enhancing fixed services, and offering segmented data bundles and promotional plans to enhance telecom services revenue, as well as diversifying their portfolio to generate new revenue streams, such as Mobile Bank from Orange.
Over the next five years, operators should focus on network investments and upgrades and seizing opportunities arising from growth in consumption of high-bandwidth data services such as video streaming and OTT. Government plans for offering high-speed broadband service to the entire population by 2022 will present significant opportunities for infrastructure vendors and investors.
The report “France: Operator and Government Focus on Providing Ultra-Fast Speed Mobile and Fixed Broadband to Drive Market Growth” provides an executive-level overview of the telecommunications market in France today, with detailed forecasts of key indicators up to 2021. The report provides detailed analysis of the near-term opportunities, competitive dynamics and evolution of demand by service type and technology/platform across the fixed telephony, broadband, and mobile, as well as a review of key regulatory trends.
In depth, this report provides the following –
– Regional context: Telecom market size and trends in France compared with other countries in the region.
– The regulatory environment and trends: a review of the regulatory setting and agenda for the next 18-24 months as well as relevant developments pertaining to spectrum licensing, national broadband plans, number portability and more.
– A demand profile: Analysis as well as historical figures and forecasts of service revenue from the fixed telephony, broadband, mobile voice, and mobile data markets.
– The competitive landscape: An examination of key trends in competition and in the performance, revenue market shares and expected moves of service providers over the next 18-24 months.
– In-depth sector analysis of fixed telephony, broadband, mobile voice, and mobile data services: A quantitative analysis of service adoption trends by network technology and by operator, as well as of average revenue per line/subscription and service revenue through the end of the forecast period.
Companies mentioned in this report: Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom, Free, Virgin Mobile, La Poste Mobile, Lycamobile, Canal+.
Scope
– The overall telecom service revenue in France will grow at a CAGR of 2.2% during 2016-2021, mainly driven by growth in the mobile data and fixed Internet segments.
– Mobile revenue will account for 54.6% of total telecom revenue in 2021; mobile data will witness a CAGR of 8.6% during 2016-2021.
– The top two operators, Orange France and SFR, accounted for 66.3% share of overall service revenue in 2016. We expect competition to intensify as operators are investing in 5G trials and fixed Internet developments.
– Operators are offering competitive entry-level plans as well as value-added services to sustain their market position.
Reasons to buy
– This Country Intelligence Report offers a thorough, forward-looking analysis of France’s telecommunications markets, service providers and key opportunities in a concise format to help executives build proactive and profitable growth strategies.
– Accompanying GlobalData’s Forecast products, the report examines the assumptions and drivers behind ongoing and upcoming trends in France’s mobile communications, fixed telephony, broadband markets, including the evolution of service provider market shares.
– With more than 20 charts and tables, the report is designed for an executive-level audience, boasting presentation quality.
– The report provides an easily digestible market assessment for decision-makers built around in-depth information gathered from local market players, which enables executives to quickly get up to speed with the current and emerging trends in France’s telecommunications markets.
– The broad perspective of the report coupled with comprehensive, actionable detail will help operators, equipment vendors and other telecom industry players succeed in the challenging telecommunications market in France.
