The contraction in the Dutch mobile services market slowed to 1.1 percent in the third quarter, for EUR 988 million in revenues. Compared to the second quarter, revenues rose 3.3 percent, better than the usual seasonal pattern, according to the latest research from Telecompaper.
Both Tele2 and T-Mobile showed revenue growth on an annual basis in the quarter. Combined the two companies grew to a market share as big as number-two Vodafone, the Dutch Mobile Operators report shows. Their combined share, pro forma for their planned merger, reached EUR 299 million or 30.2 percent of the market, compared to EUR 300 million for Vodafone.
The merger partners have added around 5 percent to their market share in the past three years. The growth is mainly due to Tele2's steady increase in revenues, which nearly doubled over the period. They have mainly taken share from Vodafone, while KPN's share is also lower.
Sims still growing
The Netherlands counted 20.4 million active mobile Sims at the end of the quarter, excluding M2M cards. That's up 0.6 percent from a year earlier. Mobile penetration was largely stable at 118.8 percent.
Telecompaper expects the Dutch mobile market to contract by around 4 percent over the full year 2018, to service revenues of EUR 3.9 billion. Over the period 2018-2022, the market is expected to show negative annual growth of 1.9 percent per year, to reach EUR 3.6 billion in annual revenue in 2022.
The continued fall in sales is due to intense competition and price pressure, which will continue following the merger of T-Mobile and Tele2. Operators also face the fall in mobile termination and roaming rates and new caps on EU calls from 2019. In addition, ARPU is under pressure from the bundling of fixed and mobile services, which often results in discounts on mobile services.
