Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia
Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia are all new EU countries. While they are closely related , the market in each one varies significantly, both in size and wealth: Slovenia’s GDP per capita is more than double that of Poland’s although Poland’s population is 19 times that of Slovenia.
Impacting on the telecoms market is EU-mandated competition, decreasing prices and leading to the introduction of new services by competing operators and incumbents alike.
Key highlights:
- Benefits of regulatory measures are becoming evident - the cost of unbundled local loops and shared access loops fell during 2007 in Slovakia and Slovenia while Hungary and Slovenia offer ULLs at prices below the average of the 27 EU member nations.
- FttH/FttB availability is expanding in all five countries, with deployments by all manner of different players in the telecoms market - municipal governments, mobile network operators, fixed-line alternative operators as well as incumbents, a trend that is expected to continue moving into 2009.
- Emerging on the back of growing broadband penetration is the Internet economy, with data showing rises in the proportion of businesses or individuals accessing e-government services as well as businesses and individuals purchasing online. EU funding has improved accessibility to e-government services and broadband Internet in underserved areas, with additional funding until at least 2013.
- IPTV take up is on the rise in all five countries, as incumbents and telecom operators acquire additional content and improve service offerings. In response cable operators continue to poach fixed-line voice subscribers from the incumbent telcos.
- Commercial DVB-T services are well into deployment, with multiplexes launched or about to be launched in all five countries. DVB-H developments/trials are underway in Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.
- Aggressively priced mobile broadband access with prepaid data bundles are available in all these countries, offered over now widely-available EDGE/WCDMA/HSDPA networks and posing significant challenges for existing wireless broadband (ie, WiMAX) operators.
For detailed information, table of contents and pricing see: 2008 Europe - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband in Central Europe
