A Review of the Advancements and Trends within the Telecommunications Industry in Europe Covering 37 European Countries.

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c29241 ) has announced the addition of 2006 Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband in Europe - Vertical Market Reports to their offering.

2006 Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband in Europe - Vertical Market Reports, contain over 1240 pages of research, on 37 European countries (including the ten new European Union (EU) access countries) and provide research on the trends and developments in telecommunications, mobile, Internet and broadband in Europe.

Subjects covered include:
- Infrastructure Issues
- Regulatory issues and government policies re infrastructure
- Datacomms Infrastructure, Leased Lines, ISDN
- Public and Value Added Data Services
- Leased Lines, ISDN, Frame Relay, ATM
- Brief overviews on all of the major telecommunications carriers and
  service providers in the region
- Broadband Infrastructure, Analyses and Developments;
- The broadbanding of Eastern Europe (policies, models, concept);
- CBD, Inter-City, Regional and International Networks;
- Internet Market, VPNs and VoIP;
- Web Sites, Web hosting;
- Research, Marketing, Benchmarking;
- Vision for a National Policy, Government Policies, BAG;
- Network Operators, Wholesalers and Retailers, Utilities Projects;
- xDSL, HFC, MDS, Satellite, Cable Modems, Cable Telephony;
- Wireless Broadband.
- Trends, Analysis, Players, Revenues, Subscribers, Prepaid
- Spectrum Auctions, Developments, Govt. Policies
- Infrastructure, GSM, CDMA, 3G
- Mobile Data - Market Issue, Paging, Dedicated Services
- SIM, SMS, MMS, GPRS, EDGE, WAP, M-Commerce
- Telemetry, Location Services, Bluetooth, PMR, TMR
- Mobile Satellite Services

Summary

Eastern Europe

The telecoms markets that make up Eastern Europe are not homogenous as those in the west, reflecting the various stages of economic development in each country. The ascension of the 10 new EU member states marks a new era in Eastern Europe, as the countries in the region integrate themselves with their western neighbours. Requirements to the EU and World Trade Organisation (WTO) have been major influence behind liberalisation in the region. As a result of liberalisation prices for services have come, resulting in increased uptake of new services such as broadband. The mobile market in the region is also facing increased competition as an increasing number of operators have to find new sources of revenue due to maturing or saturated markets. This too has led to the introduction and uptake of mobile data and content applications.

Bulgaria and Romania are both scheduled to join the EU in 2007. Croatia is a candidate EU country and the potential EU candidate countries include Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Serbia and Montenegro. These countries are in varying stages of implementing the EU's regulatory framework for communications. Liberalisation of Belarus' telecoms market is expected in 2007 and the Russian long-distance market in 2006, as both must liberalise their markets by 2007 as part of WTO entry requirements.

Privatisation of the Russia's state-owned telecoms group Svyazinvest is underway as in September 2005 plans to privatise the telecom operator were submitted to the government for approval. The privatisation of Svyazinvest is significant as it holds controlling stakes in all seven 'mega-regional' operators that dominate their respective markets but require upgrades to infrastructure. 2005 is also the year of privatisations for other countries in the region and more are slated for 2006. In 2005; Bulgaria privatised its remaining 34.6% state-owned stake, Montenegro privatised its remaining 51.12% majority stake and Albania privatised a 76% majority stake. Bosnia is set to privatise its incumbent by mid-2006 and Romania plans to complete privatisation of its remaining 45.99% stake in 2006. Serbia is moving to privatise its 49% stake in its mobile operator but has been hampered by an ownership dispute. The disposing of state-owned stakes will have implications for competition as it removes the inherent reluctance of governments to introduce extensive competition against their state-owned operators.

The Czech Republic, Lithuania and Cyprus had penetration levels in excess of 100% as at March 2005, with Estonia, Slovenia and Greece near 100%. Russia's massive mobile market is maturing although it is still showing strong signs of growth as the mobile operators concentrate on acquiring subscribers in the outer regions, where penetration in some regions is in the single digits.

Third generation mobile services have been launched in Slovenia and Hungary but the launch of services have been delayed in Poland and the Czech Republic numerous times by the operators. A number of countries also offer Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE). Commercial launch of 3G services that have either occurred in the Balkans in 2005 or are expected to occur by 2006 include Croatia, Cyprus and Romania.

Mobile data usage is increasing in the Baltic region. In Lithuania there were 413,700 subscribers of GPRS and EDGE services as at July 2005, compared with 341,120 subscribers of mobile data services as at 1 January 2005. Estonia also experienced strong growth in mobile data services, with a 17% increase in SMS messages sent in 2004 and a 150% increase in the number of GPRS users in the same period. The operators are promoting the use of higher-margin mobile data services for two reasons; to compensate for reductions in voice tariffs and to increase ARPU as although the mobile voice markets are reaching saturation, the mobile data sector is still in the growth stages of market development. The introduction of additional content such as mobile TV in Lithuania, and the eventual introduction of high-speed third generation services in all three countries will have a positive impact on mobile data usage. The introduction of mobile applications such as email and services that use mobile phones to monitor the status of cars and houses in Estonia highlights the increasing potential of the mobile applications market. The Russian mobile applications market is developing and was estimated to be worth US$270 million in 2004, a 300% annual increase. There are approximately 100 distribution companies providing or promoting content, and about 40 content providers. The majority of them develop their own content while a few purchase programs from foreign companies.

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c29241