The Belgian mobile market slowed significantly in the second quarter, after the country was put on lockdown to stem the spread of the coronavirus. Mobile service revenues fell 7.8 percent year-on-year to EUR 646 million, accelerating from an annual drop of just 1.2 percent in Q1 2020, research by Telecompaper shows.
The number of mobile Sims was still 2.5 percent higher year-on-year at 11.88 million. The drop in revenues came mainly from the loss of roaming revenue, due to travel restrictions, and less out-of-bundle revenue as more people stayed at home and the operators gave away free data bonuses. Proximus said it saw an increase in national and international calling during the lockdown, but a drop in SMS use as more people shifted to OTT messaging apps.
Proximus suffered particularly from the drop in roaming traffic and reported the biggest annual decline in mobile service revenue in Q2, down 10.9 percent year-on-year, compared to only a 4.2 percent drop at Telenet.
All three mobile operators also posted lower postpaid ARPU, led by a 16.3 percent fall at Orange to EUR 17.1, the lowest of the three. In its Q2 report, Orange quantified the impact of the coronavirus on revenues, saying it took an estimated EUR 16 million off SMS, EUR 4.7 million from customer roaming and EUR 5.8 million from visitor roaming.
"The coronavirus restrictions highlight the Belgian operators' dependence on roaming and SMS revenues, while also accelerating the drop in out-of-bundle revenues started with the migration to postpaid bundles," said Marion ter Welle, Telecompaper's senior research analyst for the Belgian market. "The pain is expected to continue in the coming quarters as travel restrictions remain. The only upside is a corresponding drop in costs from the reduced roaming."
The above figures come from Telecompaper's quarterly data sheet on the Belgian mobile market, which covers all the KPIs for the industry and is available now for purchase. For more information, contact research@telecompaper.com.
