Sweden - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband

Sweden's telecom market includes mature mobile and broadband sectors which have been stimulated by the progressive investment of the main telcos in developing new technologies. The country retains one of the best developed LTE infrastructures in the region, while its MNOs have benefited from the January 2021 auction of spectrum in the 3.5GHz band which will enable them to expand services nationally.

The country also has one of the highest fibre broadband penetration rates in Europe. The focus of FttP is aimed at fulfilling the government's target of providing a 1Gb/s service to 98% of the population by 2025. The methodology to achieve this has rested on regulatory measures supported by public funds, as well as on the auction of spectrum in different bands.

In the fixed-line broadband segment, the number of DSL subscribers is falling steadily as customers continue to migrate to fibre networks. There is also competition from HFC infrastructure, with the main cableco Com Hem, now owned by Tele2, offering fibre-based broadband and investing in services based on the DOCSIS3.1 standard.

This report assesses key aspects of the Swedish telecom market, providing data on fixed network services and profiling the main players. It also reviews the key regulatory issues, including interconnection, local loop unbundling, number portability, carrier preselection and NGN open access. The report also analyses the mobile market, providing data on network operators and their strategies in a highly competitive environment. In addition, the report considers the fixed and fixed-wireless broadband markets, including analyses of market dynamics and the main operators, as well as providing subscriber forecasts.

Key developments:

Telecom sector revenue showed continued slight decline;

Telia sells out of Turkcell Holdings;

Fixed-line telephony penetration continues downward slide;

Regulator completes 3.5GHz and 2.3GHz spectrum auction;

Tele2 and Telia to phase out 3G services by 2025;

Government promotes new broadband strategy to 2025;

Report update includes the regulator's market data to June 2020, telcos' operating and financial data to Q4 2020, recent market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report:

Telenor Sweden, Telia Company, Tele2, Hi3G Sweden, Net1, Com Hem, PiteEnergi, BAS.

Key statistics

Regional European Market Comparison

Europe Telecom Maturity Index by tier
- Market Leaders
- Market Challengers
- Market Emergents
TMI versus GDP
Mobile and mobile broadband penetration
Fixed versus mobile broadband penetration

Country overview

Covid-19 and its impact on the telecom sector

Economic considerations and responses
Subscribers
Infrastructure

Telecommunications market

Market analysis

Regulatory environment

Historical overview
Regulatory authority
Fixed-line developments
- Telecom sector liberalisation
- Privatisation
- Interconnect
- Access
- Number Portability (NP)
- Carrier PreSelection (CPS)
- Wholesale Line Rental (WLR)
- European Electronic Communications Code
Mobile network developments
- Spectrum regulations and spectrum auctions
- Roaming
- Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
- Mobile Termination Rates (MTRs)
- Network sharing

Mobile market

Market analysis
Mobile statistics
- General statistics
Mobile infrastructure
- Analogue
- 5G
- 4G (LTE)
- 3G
- Satellite mobile
- M2M
- NB-IoT
Mobile voice
Mobile data
- Short Message Service (SMS)
- Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)
Mobile broadband
Major mobile operators
- Telia Mobile
- Tele2 Mobile
- Telenor Sweden
- Net4Mobility
- Hutchison 3G Sweden
- Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs)
- Mobile Virtual Network Enablers (MVNEs)
Mobile content and applications
- Location-based services
- Mobile music
- Other developments
- M-payments

Fixed-line broadband market

Introduction and statistical overview
- Market analysis
- Government support
- Broadband strategy - 2010
- Broadband strategy - 2020
- Broadband strategy - 2025
- Regulatory measures
- Competition
- Municipal action
- Broadband statistics
Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks
- Com Hem
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks
- Open access
- ADSL2+
- VDSL2+
Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks
- Introduction
- Telia
- Telenor
- PiteEnergi
- BAS
- Other developments
Other fixed broadband services
- Broadband Powerline (BPL)
- Fixed wireless (Wi-Fi and WiMAX)

Digital economy

eGovernment
eHealth

Fixed network operators

Introduction
Telia Company
Tele2
Telenor Sweden

Telecommunications infrastructure

Overview of the national telecom network
VoIP
International infrastructure
- Submarine cable networks
- Satellite networks
Smart infrastructure

Appendix - Historic data

Glossary of abbreviations

Related reports

List of Tables

Table 1 - Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities - Sweden - 2020 (e)
Table 2 - End-user revenue by service - 2009 - 2020
Table 3 - Telecom sector revenue and annual change - 2010 - 2019
Table 4 - End-user revenue annual change by sector - 2010 - 2020
Table 5 - Change in end-user traffic in minutes by technology - 2011 - 2020
Table 6 - Change in telecom revenue per household by sector - 2011 - 2020
Table 7 - Annual change in telecom revenue per household by sector - 2011 - 2020
Table 8 - Interconnect fixed-line minutes and revenue - 2011 - 2019
Table 9 - Change in the number of fixed number portings - 2010 - 2020
Table 10 - Change in the number of carrier preselection customers - 2009 - 2020
Table 11 - Change in the number of Wholesale Line Rental lines - 2011 - 2020
Table 12 - Annual mobile numbers ported - 2009 - 2020
Table 13 - Change in mobile termination revenue traffic and revenue - 2009 - 2019
Table 14 - Growth in the number of mobile subscribers, and penetration - 2011 - 2026
Table 15 - Change in the number of GSM, UMTS and LTE subscribers - 2011 - 2020
Table 16 - Change in subscriber distribution by technology - 2009 - 2020
Table 17 - Growth in mobile voice and data revenue - 2011 - 2020
Table 18 - Growth in mobile traffic in minutes and sector traffic use - 2011 - 2020
Table 19 - Growth in average mobile traffic per subscriber - 2011 - 2020
Table 20 - Average mobile blended ARPU - 2009 - 2020
Table 21 - Market share of subscribers by operator (regulator data) - 2011 - 2020
Table 22 - Active prepaid and contract subscribers - 2011 - 2020
Table 23 - Growth in the number of LTE subscriptions - 2010 - 2020
Table 24 - Growth in mobile data traffic from LTE networks - 2015 - 2020
Table 25 - Growth in the number of M2M connections - 2011 - 2020
Table 26 - Growth in M2M revenue - 2011 - 2020
Table 27 - Change in SMS messages sent per user per month - 2009 - 2020
Table 28 - Growth in SMS traffic, by platform - 2010 - 2020
Table 29 - Growth in the number of MMS messages sent - 2009 - 2020
Table 30 - Growth in the number of MMS messages sent per subscriber - 2011 - 2020
Table 31 - Growth in mobile data services traffic - 2009 - 2020
Table 32 - Growth in the number of mobile broadband subscribers by type - 2011 - 2020
Table 33 - Growth in the number of mobile broadband subscribers and penetration - 2011 - 2026
Table 34 - Change in the number of Telia Mobile's mobile subscribers, proportion prepaid - 2009 - 2020
Table 35 - Telia Mobile blended, contract and prepaid ARPU - 2009 - 2020
Table 36 - Development of Telia Mobile's mobile revenue - 2011 - 2020
Table 37 - Growth in the number of Tele2 mobile subscribers - 2011 - 2020
Table 38 - Growth in the number of Tele2 Sweden's consumer mobile subscribers by type - 2016 - 2020
Table 39 - Tele2 Mobile (Sweden) financial data - 2009 - 2020
Table 40 - Development of Telenor Sweden's mobile financial data - 2009 - 2020
Table 41 - Growth in the number of Telenor Sweden's mobile subscribers - 2009 - 2020
Table 42 - Decline in Telenor Sweden's blended mobile ARPU - 2011 - 2020
Table 43 - Change in the number of Hi3G's registered subscribers - 2009 - 2020
Table 44 - Development of Hi3G Sweden's revenue -2010 - 2020
Table 45 - Hi3G Sweden's annualised net ARPU - 2008 - 2020
Table 46 - Growth in broadband service revenue - 2009 - 2019
Table 47 - Broadband revenue by platform - 2011 - 2019
Table 48 - Low-end fixed broadband accesses by speed - 2009 - 2020
Table 49 - High-end fixed broadband accesses by speed - 2012 - 2020
Table 50 - Change in fixed broadband market share of subscribers by operator - 2009 - 2020
Table 51 - Proportion of all internet subscribers by type - 2009 - 2020
Table 52 - Proportion of fixed/mobile internet subscribers - 2009 - 2020
Table 53 - Steady rise in internet revenue by household and subscriber - 2011 - 2019
Table 54 - Growth in the number of internet subscribers (including mobile) - 2010 - 2020
Table 55 - Decline in the number of dial-up internet connections - 2009 - 2020
Table 56 - Change in the number of fixed-line broadband subscribers by access type - 2009 - 2020
Table 57 - Growth in the number of fixed broadband subscribers and penetration - 2011 - 2026
Table 58 - Broadband penetration by technology - 2011 - 2019
Table 59 - Telia Sweden's fixed-line broadband revenue and ARPU - 2012 - 2020
Table 60 - Change in the number of Telia Sweden's fixed broadband subscribers - 2011 - 2020
Table 61 - Development of Tele2 Sweden's broadband financial data - 2008 - 2020
Table 62 - Change in the number of Tele2 Sweden's broadband subscribers - 2011 - 2020
Table 63 - Change in the number of Telenor Sweden's broadband subscribers - 2009 - 2020
Table 64 - 3.7GHz licence results - 2009
Table 65 - Change in the number of Telia Sweden's subscribers - 2009 - 2020
Table 66 - Development of Telia Group's financial data - 2011 - 2020
Table 67 - Tele2 Sweden revenue by sector - 2011 - 2020
Table 68 - Tele2 Group financial overview - 2011 - 2020
Table 69 - Tele2 Sweden subscribers by sector - 2011 - 2020
Table 70 - Development of Telenor Sweden's telephony, internet, TV subscriber base - 2009 - 2020
Table 71 - Change in Telenor Sweden's fixed-line revenue - 2011 - 2020
Table 72 - Development of Telenor Sweden's financial data - 2011 - 2020
Table 73 - Decline in the number of fixed lines in service and teledensity - 2011 - 2026
Table 74 - Decline in the number of PSTN lines - 2009 - 2020
Table 75 - Market share of fixed-telephony subscribers by operator - 2009 - 2020
Table 76 - Change in the number of VoIP subscribers - 2009 - 2020
Table 77 - Decline in VoIP revenue - 2009 - 2019
Table 78 - Decline in VoIP traffic - 2011 - 2020
Table 79 - VoIP accesses by technology - 2011 - 2020
Table 80 - Change in the number of Telia Sweden's VoIP subscribers - 2011 - 2020
Table 81 - International internet bandwidth - 2009 - 2017
Table 82 - Historic - Fixed lines in service and teledensity - 1995 - 2010
Table 83 - Historic - End-user revenue growth: fixed line, internet, mobile and mobile data - 1995 - 2009
Table 84 - Historic - Telecom revenue per household by sector - 2001 - 2010
Table 85 - Historic - VoIP subscribers and annual change - 2004 - 2010
Table 86 - Historic - End-user traffic in minutes by technology - 2000 - 2010
Table 87 - Historic - Telecom revenue per household annual change by sector - 2001 - 2010
Table 88 - Historic - Mobile subscribers and penetration rate - 1995; 1997; 1999 - 2010
Table 89 - Historic - Mobile data services traffic - 2002 - 2009
Table 90 - Historic - Mobile voice and data revenue - 1995; 1997; 1999 - 2010
Table 91 - Historic - Average mobile traffic per subscriber - 2001 - 2010
Table 92 - Historic - Mobile traffic in minutes and sector traffic use - 2001 - 2010
Table 93 - Historic - Active prepaid and contract subscribers - 2000- 2010
Table 94 - Historic - GSM/UMTS and NMT subscribers (regulator data) - 1999 - 2010
Table 95 - Historic - Market share of subscribers by operator (regulator data) - 1995 - 2010
Table 96 - Historic - Internet services revenue - 2003 - 2014
Table 97 - Historic - Internet users and penetration rate - 1996 - 2015
Table 98 - Historic - Internet subscribers: PSTN, ISDN - 2000 - 2009
Table 99 - Historic - Internet monthly revenue by household and subscriber - 2000 - 2010
Table 100 - Historic - Interconnect fixed-line minutes and revenue - 2006 - 2010
Table 101 - Historic - Change in the number of Wholesale Line Rental lines - 2005 - 2010
Table 102 - Historic - Growth in the number of MMS messages sent per subscriber - 2006 - 2010
Table 103 - Historic - Growth in the number of mobile broadband subscribers by type - 2006 - 2010
Table 104 - Historic - Telia Mobile mobile revenue - 2007 - 2010
Table 105 - Historic - Growth in the number of Tele2 mobile subscribers - 2006 - 2010
Table 106 - Historic - Decline in Telenor's blended mobile ARPU (Sweden) - 2006 - 2010
Table 107 - Historic - Broadband penetration by technology - 2006 - 2010
Table 108 - Historic - Change in the number of Telia broadband subscribers - 2009 - 2010
Table 109 - Historic - Change in the number of Tele2's broadband subscribers - 2006 - 2010
Table 110 - Historic - Telia Group financial data - 2007 - 2010
Table 111 - Historic - Tele2 Sweden revenue by sector - 2007 - 2010
Table 112 - Historic - Tele2 Group financial overview - 2006 - 2010
Table 113 - Historic - Tele2 Sweden subscribers by sector - 2006 - 2010
Table 114 - Historic - Change in Telenor Sweden's fixed-line revenue - 2005 - 2010
Table 115 - Historic - Decline in VoIP traffic - 2004 - 2010
Table 116 - Historic - VoIP accesses by technology - 2004 - 2010
Table 117 - Historic - Telia VoIP subscribers - 2007 - 2010
Table 118 - Historic - Telia fixed-line broadband revenue and ARPU (Sweden) - 2009 - 2011
Table 119 - Historic - Growth in the number of M2M connections - 2008 - 2010
Table 120 - Historic - Growth in M2M revenue - 2008 - 2010
Table 121 - Historic - Change in Telenor Sweden's financial data - 2008 - 2010

List of Charts

Chart 1 - Europe Telecoms Maturity Index - Market Leaders (top tier)
Chart 2 - Europe Telecoms Maturity Index - Market Challengers (middle tier)
Chart 3 - Europe Telecoms Maturity Index - Market Emergents (bottom tier)
Chart 4 - Overall view - Telecoms Maturity Index vs GDP per Capita
Chart 5 - Europe - mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration
Chart 6 - Scandinavia and Baltics - mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration
Chart 7 - Northern Europe - mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration
Chart 8 - Southern Europe mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration
Chart 9 - Eastern Europe mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration
Chart 10 - Scandinavia and Baltics fixed and mobile broadband penetration
Chart 11 - Northern Europe fixed and mobile broadband penetration
Chart 12 - Southern Europe fixed and mobile broadband penetration
Chart 13 - Eastern Europe fixed and mobile broadband penetration
Chart 14 - End-user revenue by service - 2009 - 2020
Chart 15 - Telecom sector revenue and annual change - 2010 - 2019
Chart 16 - End-user revenue annual change by sector - 2010 - 2020
Chart 17 - Change in end-user traffic in minutes by technology - 2011 - 2020
Chart 18 - Change in telecom revenue per household by sector - 2011 - 2020
Chart 19 - Annual change in telecom revenue per household by sector - 2010 - 2020
Chart 20 - Change in the number of fixed number portings - 2010 - 2020
Chart 21 - Change in the number of carrier preselection customers - 2009 - 2020
Chart 22 - Change in the number of Wholesale Line Rental lines - 2011 - 2020
Chart 23 - Annual mobile numbers ported - 2009 - 2020
Chart 24 - Change in mobile termination revenue traffic and revenue - 2009 - 2019
Chart 25 - Growth in the number of mobile subscribers, and penetration - 2011 - 2026
Chart 26 - Change in the number of GSM, 3G and LTE subscribers - 2011 - 2020
Chart 27 - Change in subscriber distribution by technology - 2009 - 2020
Chart 28 - Growth in mobile voice and data revenue - 2011 - 2020
Chart 29 - Growth in mobile traffic in minutes and sector traffic use - 2011 - 2020
Chart 30 - Growth in average mobile traffic per subscriber - 2011 - 2020
Chart 31 - Average mobile blended ARPU - 2009 - 2020
Chart 32 - Market share of subscribers by operator - 2011 - 2020
Chart 33 - Active prepaid and contract subscribers - 2011 - 2020
Chart 34 - Growth in the number of LTE subscriptions - 2010 - 2020
Chart 35 - Growth in mobile data traffic from LTE networks - 2015 - 2020
Chart 36 - Growth in the number of M2M connections - 2011 - 2020
Chart 37 - Growth in M2M revenue - 2011 - 2020
Chart 38 - Change in SMS messages sent per user per month - 2009 - 2020
Chart 39 - Growth in SMS traffic, by platform - 2010 - 2020
Chart 40 - Growth in the number of MMS messages sent - 2009 - 2020
Chart 41 - Growth in the number of MMS messages sent per subscriber - 2011 - 2020
Chart 42 - Growth in mobile data services traffic - 2009 - 2020
Chart 43 - Growth in the number of mobile broadband subscribers by type - 2011 - 2020
Chart 44 - Growth in the number of mobile broadband subscribers and penetration - 2011 - 2026
Chart 45 - Change in the number of Telia Mobile's mobile subscribers, proportion prepaid - 2009 - 2020
Chart 46 - Telia Mobile blended, contract and prepaid ARPU - 2009 - 2020
Chart 47 - Development of Telia Mobile's mobile revenue - 2011 - 2020
Chart 48 - Growth in the number of Tele2 mobile subscribers - 2011 - 2020
Chart 49 - Growth in the number of Tele2 Sweden's consumer mobile subscribers by type - 2016 - 2020
Chart 50 - Tele2 Mobile (Sweden) financial data - 2009 - 2020
Chart 51 - Development of Telenor Sweden's mobile financial data - 2009 - 2020
Chart 52 - Growth in the number of Telenor Sweden's mobile subscribers - 2009 - 2020
Chart 53 - Decline in Telenor Sweden's blended mobile ARPU - 2011 - 2020
Chart 54 - Change in the number of Hi3G's registered subscribers - 2009 - 2020
Chart 55 - Development of Hi3G Sweden's revenue -2010 - 2020
Chart 56 - Hi3G Sweden's annualised net ARPU - 2008 - 2020
Chart 57 - Growth in broadband service revenue - 2009 - 2019
Chart 58 - Broadband revenue by platform - 2011 - 2019
Chart 59 - Low-end fixed broadband accesses by speed - 2009 - 2020
Chart 60 - High-end fixed broadband accesses by speed - 2012 - 2020
Chart 61 - Change in fixed broadband market share of subscribers by operator - 2009 - 2020
Chart 62 - Proportion of all internet subscribers by type - 2009 - 2020
Chart 63 - Proportion of fixed/mobile internet subscribers - 2009 - 2020
Chart 64 - Steady rise in internet revenue by household and subscriber - 2011 - 2019
Chart 65 - Growth in the number of internet subscribers (including mobile) - 2010 - 2020
Chart 66 - Decline in the number of dial-up internet connections - 2009 - 2020
Chart 67 - Change in the number of fixed-line broadband subscribers by access type - 2009 - 2020
Chart 68 - Growth in the number of fixed broadband subscribers and penetration - 2011 - 2026
Chart 69 - Broadband penetration by technology - 2011 - 2019
Chart 70 - Change in the number of Telia broadband subscribers - 2011 - 2020
Chart 71 - Change in the number of Tele2 Sweden's broadband subscribers - 2011 - 2020
Chart 72 - Change in the number of Telenor Sweden's broadband subscribers - 2009 - 2020
Chart 73 - Change in the number of Telia Sweden's subscribers - 2009 - 2020
Chart 74 - Development of Telia Group's financial data - 2011 - 2020
Chart 75 - Tele2 Sweden revenue by sector - 2011 - 2020
Chart 76 - Tele2 Group financial overview - 2011 - 2020
Chart 77 - Tele2 Sweden subscribers by sector - 2011 - 2020
Chart 78 - Development of Telenor Sweden's telephony, internet, TV subscriber base - 2009 - 2020
Chart 79 - Change in Telenor Sweden's fixed-line revenue - 2011 - 2020
Chart 80 - Development of Telenor Sweden's financial data - 2011 - 2020
Chart 81 - Decline in the number of fixed lines in service and teledensity - 2011 - 2026
Chart 82 - Decline in the number of PSTN lines - 2009 - 2020
Chart 83 - Market share of fixed-telephony subscribers by operator - 2009 - 2020
Chart 84 - Change in the number of VoIP subscribers - 2009 - 2020
Chart 85 - Decline in VoIP revenue - 2009 - 2019
Chart 86 - Decline in VoIP traffic - 2011 - 2020
Chart 87 - VoIP accesses by technology - 2011 - 2020
Chart 88 - Change in the number of Telia Sweden's VoIP subscribers - 2011 - 2020

List of Exhibits

Exhibit 1 - Generalised Market Characteristics by Market Segment
Exhibit 2 - Access and the local loop
Exhibit 3 - 3G licence awards - 2000
Exhibit 4 - 700MHz auction result - 2018
Exhibit 5 - 800MHz licence awards - 2011
Exhibit 6 - 1800MHz licence awards - Oct 2011
Exhibit 7 - 3.5GHz and 2.3GHz licence awards - February 2021
Exhibit 8 - 2.6GHz licence awards - May 2008
Exhibit 9 - Hi3G Sweden's spectrum concessions
Exhibit 10 - Select MVNOs and host networks

Sweden - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Description

Table of Contents

List of Tables

Sweden completes 5G spectrum auction

Key developments:

Companies mentioned in this report:

Table of Contents

Key statistics

Regional European Market Comparison

Country overview

Covid-19 and its impact on the telecom sector

Telecommunications market

Regulatory environment

Mobile market

Fixed-line broadband market

Digital economy

Fixed network operators

Telecommunications infrastructure

Appendix - Historic data

Glossary of abbreviations

Related reports

List of Tables

List of Charts

List of Exhibits