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Belgian mobile services market contracts 9.1% in Q1
2013-05-22 16:50:00| Telecompaper Headlines
(Telecompaper) The Belgian mobile operators generated EUR 789 million in service revenues in the first quarter, down 9.1 percent from a year earlier, according to research by Telecompaper. The same as elsewhere in Europe, the market contraction was due to lower voice revenues, following regulatory cuts to termination rates. The weaker economy and intensifying competition also played a role, in part due to new legislation limiting contracts to six months. Non-voice services now account for around 41 percent of service revenues, versus 37 percent a year ago. Revenues from non-voice rose by EUR 3 million year-on-year to EUR 325 million in Q1, but were down by EUR 5 million from the fourth quarter of 2012. Total revenues were down 12.1 percent on an annual basis at Proximus, while Mobistar suffered a fall of 7.6 percent, and Base's revenues declined 4.7 percent. The number of active Sim cards fell by 5.1 percent from a year ago to 12.8 million. While there was growth in postpaid, the number of prepaid lines declined after a clean-up of inactive customers at Base. Compared to the end of 2012, the total Sim base was up slightly, growing by 0.1 percent. Market penetration fell to 116 percent at the end of March, from 122 percent in March 2012. For the full year 2013, Telecompaper forecast Belgian mobile service revenues to fall 7-8 percent to around EUR 3.2 billion.
Tags: services
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mobile
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Category:Telecommunications