Belgian mobile virtual operators market accounts for 3.2 million SIMs in Q3 2013

Houten, The Netherlands, 22 November 2013 – In Q3 2013 the number of virtually enabled customers stood at 3.15 million in Belgium, or 24 percent of the total Belgian mobile market. The market is dominated by co-marketing partnerships. The top ten virtual operators account for 93 percent of the market, leaving 30 companies vying for the remaining 7 percent of customers. These are some of the main findings of the third research conducted by Telecompaper on the Belgian mobile virtual operators market and available in the new report ‘Belgian Mobile Virtual Operators – market overview third quarter 2013’.

The number of active mobile virtual operators in Belgium stood at 40 at the end of September 2013, as compared to 44 a year earlier. The market saw some exits, two restarts and one new entrant during 2013, but overall remained quite stable. The market is characterised by a large number of co-marketing partnerships, which account for 28 percent of providers and 31 percent of customer market share, as well as by many small players and little MVNE activity.The only new launche in 2013 concerned VOO Mobile, from cable provider VOO. Restarts were Turk Telekom Mobile (previously Ay Yildiz) and Toledo Telecom, changing its name to IP Nexia.

The largest three players are Telenet, Jim Mobile and Ortel Mobile. Thanks to Telenet’s large increase in customer numbers, the non-niche segment has become the largest segment in Belgium, followed by Media and Ethnic. The majority of virtual players operate on the Base network.

The Belgian mobile virtual market is expected to see some more entries and exits in the near future. The national and EU regulations will have a negative effect on some VOs, although it may actually help other VOs. New VOs will need to focus on innovative services as the mobile market is a crowded one. The newly introduced Telecoms Law has increased the churn, particularly among MNOs, and will probably lead to a continuation of the current price war between operators. Smartphone penetration in Belgium remains relatively low, but this is expected to increase and lead to a change in offerings from operators. We do not anticipate much more MVNE activity than the current low level, said Marion ter Welle, senior researcher at Telecompaper and co-author of the report.

Telecompaper
The report “Belgian Mobile Virtual Operators Market – Market overview third quarter 2013” provides a detailed analysis of all the virtual (co) brands in the Belgian market, including operator-owned, co-marketing partnerships and independent MVNOs. It looks at the target markets, propositions and performance of the active players in this market segment. The report focuses on the mobile VOs with activities in the Belgian market and outlines the most important business issues and strengths and weaknesses per virtual operator. The report also contains a section discussing the market by segment, analyzing exposure in the media and forecast expectations. The report is published once a year and a copy for 1-2 readers (within one organisation) costs EUR 2,950. A business licence (up to 10 users) costs EUR 5,600, and a company-wide licence costs EUR 10,325.