How To Understand And Understand The Swedish Telecommunications Market

Transcription

1 Report number PTS-ER 2015:19 Date 18th June 2015 The Swedish Telecommunications Market 2014

2 The Swedish Telecommunications Market 2014 Report Number PTS-ER 2015:19 Reference Number ISSN Authors Karin Fransén, Andreas Wigren The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority Box Stockholm The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority 2

3 Foreword The market data on the Swedish telecommunications market collected by the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority is one of the tools we use to monitor the rapid development of electronic communications. Information about market trends in the form of volumes, revenues, etc. is one of the elements that form the basis of our regulatory activities. One use of this is in making international comparisons. I have sometimes likened electronic communication to society s circulatory system and this comparison is becoming ever more appropriate. I also usually stress how the most important impulse driving the positive developments we are seeing is the demand from us users of the services. Without this strong demand it is highly unlikely that the high and stable levels of investments we have witnessed in recent years could have been maintained. The annual investment in fixed and mobile networks stands at around SEK 9-10 billion, as we previously reported in our follow-up to the government s broadband strategy. Particularly noteworthy has been the demand for the most rapid broadband services. The major expansion of fibre that is currently taking place, where many house owners are choosing to upgrade their properties with new technology is one clear indication. The Swedish Telecommunications Market 2014 shows that the number of fibre subscriptions is continuing to increase, and more and more people are choosing the highest speeds, from 100 Mbit/s and upwards. Our broadband review shows that over 60 per cent of households and companies now have access to these broadband speeds. Swedish Telecommunications Market 2014 also reveals a dramatic increase in subscriptions using the 4G network. Since the breakthrough of wireless and mobile broadband in the second half of the 2000s the number of subscriptions for these services has increased rapidly. The demand for stable, fast mobile broadband exists throughout the country: in the cities where capacity can be a bottleneck and in the countryside where coverage is often the main challenge. It is not uncommon for the market players to find it difficult to meet this high demand. We do not have all the answers to the debate about coverage and capacity. For this reason it is important for us be out there on the ground and to listen to and talk about local and regional needs, which we did do, for example in the meetings we held in recent years to discuss coverage around the country. The motive for the debate is ultimately very positive users who want to use better quality services more, everywhere. The fact that network services are increasingly becoming indispensable to us at home and at work and as members of society - that the blood must be pumped round and reach everywhere places an obligation on us as a state authority and equally on the players on the market. Göran Marby Director General, Swedish Post and Telecom Authority The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority 3

4 Contents Foreword 3 Abstract 8 Sammanfattning 9 1 Aims and method Structure and implementation Discrepancies and updates of data Historical information and market shares Definitions 14 2 Market Development: Subscriptions Fixed call services 16 Subscriptions via PSTN 17 Subscriptions via ISDN 17 Subscriptions via IP telephony 17 Subscriptions via SIP trunks Mobile call and data services 18 Subscriptions without mobile broadband 19 Mobile broadband subscriptions 20 Subscriptions using 4G (LTE) M2M services Number porting Internet services 22 Fixed internet connection subscriptions 23 Transmission capacity for broadband subscriptions 24 Mobile broadband subscriptions 28 Download speeds Mobile broadband Data communication to end-users TV services Bundled services 37 3 Usage - Traffic Call Traffic Messaging services Mobile data traffic 43 4 Market revenue Revenue from fixed call services Revenue from mobile call and data services Revenue from M2M Revenue from interconnections on fixed and mobile networks Revenue from internet services Revenue from data communication services Revenue from television services 50 Total revenue per distribution platform (basic and add-on subscription) 51 5 Market share Market share fixed call services Market share - mobile call and data services Market share - broadband Market share - television services 56 The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority 4

5 Appendix 1 Report tables 60 Appendix 2 List of participants 61 Appendix 3 Quality declaration 66 The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority 5

6 Figures Figure 1 Number of fixed call services subscriptions Figure 2 Number of mobile call and data services subscriptions Figure 3 Number of subscriptions using 4G (LTE) Figure 4 Number of M2M services subscriptions Figure 5 Number of portings of fixed and mobile telephone numbers Figure 6 Number of broadband and internet services subscriptions Figure 7 Number of fixed internet services subscriptions Figure 8 Transmission speeds for fixed broadband subscriptions downstream Figure 9 Transmission speeds for fixed broadband subscriptions - upstream Figure 10 Transmission speeds for mobile broadband subscriptions downstream Figure 11 Number of television services subscriptions by method of distribution Figure 12 Television subscriptions per method of distribution Figure 13 Number of TV subscriptions via broadband Figure 14 Total consumption of moving images in Sweden Figure 15 Number of bundled subscriptions Figur 16 Outgoing call minutes from fixed and mobile telephones Figur 17 Total number of SMS sent and number of SMS per subscription per month Figur 18 Volume of data transmitted on mobile networks Figure 19 Revenue from the end-user market for electronic communications Figure 20 Revenue from end-users for fixed call services Figure 21 Revenue from end-users for mobile call and data services Figure 22 Revenue from the end-user market for fixed internet services and mobile data 48 Figure 23 Revenue from the end-user market for data communication services Figure 24 Revenue from TV services (basic and add-on subscriptions) Figure 25 Market shares fixed call services subscriptions Figure 26 Market share - mobile call and data services subscriptions The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority 6

7 Figure 27 Market share total broadband subscriptions Figure 28 Market share - fixed broadband subscriptions Figure 29 Market share - mobile broadband subscriptions Figure 30 Market share - analogue and digital television services subscriptions Figure 31 Market share digital TV services subscriptions The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority 7

8 Abstract In 2014, the total revenue of the retail market for electronic communications was SEK 52.7 billion, which is an increase by 1 per cent. There were 14.5 million subscriptions for mobile voice and data services on 31 December 2014, an increase by 1 per cent from the same date in Over 4 million of these subscriptions used services in the 4G (LTE) networks which is an increase by 2.5 million subscriptions compared to the same date in The revenues from mobile voice and data services increased by 4 per cent and amounted to SEK 29.6 billion in The increase in revenues was mainly driven by continued increase in revenues from data traffic. Approximately 70 per cent of the revenues in the mobile market came from fixed charges. There were 3.8 million subscriptions for fixed-line telephony on 31 December 2014, a decrease by 4 per cent from the same date in The number of subscriptions for broadband via fibre and fibre-lan increased by 17 per cent and was nearly 1.4 million on 31 December Fibre and fibre-lan has now established its position as the most common access technology. The total number of fixed broadband subscriptions was nearly 3.3 million on the last day of 2014, which is a 4 per cent increase compared to the same date in Revenues from fixed broadband subscriptions amounted SEK 9.6 billion in 2014, an increase by 6 per cent compared to the previous year. Broadband subscriptions with high speed downstream as well as upstream continued to increase. On 31 December 2014 there were 1.2 million subscriptions with speeds of 100 Mbit/s or more downstream. The number of subscriptions with 100 Mbit/s or more upstream increased sharply and amounted to on same date. In 2014, 365,000 Tbytes of data were transferred over the mobile networks. This is 35 per cent more than in One third of the data traffic in the mobile networks was generated by smartphones and the share is growing. The total number of outgoing voice minutes in 2014 was 38.1 billion, which is on the same level as The number of outgoing voice minutes from mobile networks increased by 4 per cent to almost 26.6 billion minutes in At the same time, the number of outgoing traffic minutes from the fixed networks decreased by 9 per cent to 11.5 billion compared to previous year. In 2014, the number of traditional television subscriptions decreased by 1 per cent to 5.2 billion. The number of IPTV subscriptions (fibre and xdsl) increased by 15 per cent to and is for the first time the largest digital TV distribution platform. Statistics from the report, including data for individual operators, are available on the PTS statistics portal ( The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority 8

9 Sammanfattning De totala intäkterna på slutkundsmarknaden för elektronisk kommunikation uppgick till 52,7 miljarder kronor under 2014, vilket är en ökning med 1 procent jämfört med Antalet mobilabonnemang uppgick till 14,5 miljoner den 31 december 2014, en ökning med 1 procent sedan samma tidpunkt föregående år. Över 4 miljoner av dessa abonnemang hade använt tjänster i 4G-näten, vilket är en ökning med 2,5 miljoner abonnemang sedan utgången av Intäkterna från mobila samtals- och datatjänster ökade med 4 procent från föregående år och uppgick till 29,6 miljarder kronor. Ökningen beror främst på växande intäkter från mobil datatrafik. Omkring 70 procent av slutkundsintäkterna på mobilmarknaden kom från fasta avgifter. Det fanns 3,8 miljoner samtalsabonnemang för fast telefoni den sista december 2014, en minskning med 4 procent jämfört med samma datum Intäkterna från fast telefoni minskade med 10 procent till 8,8 miljarder kronor. Antalet bredbandsabonnemang via fiber ökade med 17 procent och uppgick till 1,4 miljoner. Fiber befäste därmed sin ställning som den vanligaste accesstekniken för fast bredband. Det totala antalet fasta bredbandsabonnemang ökade med 4 procent till knappt 3,3 miljoner. Intäkterna från fasta internetabonnemang uppgick till 9,6 miljarder kronor under 2014, en ökning med 6 procent jämfört med året innan. Bredbandsabonnemang med höga hastigheter så väl nedströms som uppströms fortsatte att öka. Den 31 december 2014 fanns 1,2 miljoner abonnemang med hastigheter på 100 Mbit/s eller mer nedströms. Antalet abonnemang med 100 Mbit/s eller mer uppströms ökade kraftigt och uppgick till vid samma tidpunkt. Under 2014 överfördes Tbyte data i mobilnäten, 35 procent mer än under En växande andel av trafiken genererades av smarta telefoner, vilka stod för en tredjedel av den mobila datatrafiken under året. När det gäller taltrafik så var det totala antalet trafikminuter var oförändrat 38,1 miljarder. Minuterna från mobilabonnemang ökade med 4 procent till 26,6 miljarder medan antalet minuter från fasta abonnemang sjönk med 9 procent till 11,5 miljarder. Det skickades 13 miljarder sms från mobiltefoner under 2014, vilket är en minskning med 9 procent jämfört med föregående år. Den sista december 2014 låg antalet tv-abonnemang på 5,2 miljoner vilket är en minskning med 1 procent jämfört med ett år tidigare. Antalet ip-tv abonnemang (via fiber och xdsl) ökade med 15 procent till och är därmed för första gången den största digitala tv-plattformen. På PTS statistikportal ( finns statistiken från rapporten publicerad i tabeller, där även data för enskilda aktörer är tillgänglig. The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority 9

10 The Swedish Telecommunications Market 2014 Full year 2014: Table 1 Key data - the market for electronic communications Electronic communication Change Total retail revenues % Revenues per month from one average household (excluding VAT) [1] % Fixed call services Subscriptions for fixed telephony (thousands) % of w hich via IP-telephony (thousands) % Outgoing traffic minutes (millions) % Private % Business % Revenues from fixed call services (SEKm) % Private % Business % M obile call services and mobile data Mobile subscriptions (thousands) % Private % Business % of w hich active UMTS/CDMA 2000 subscriptions % of w hich subscriptions w hich have used 4G (LTE ) % of w hich mobile broadband as a stand-alone service % of w hich mobile broadband as an add-on service % Outgoing traffic minutes (millions) % Number of SMS sent (millions) % Number of MMS sent (millions) % Traffic for mobile data services (Tbyte) % Revenues from mobile subscriptions, SMS, MMS and mobile data traffic (SEKm) % Private % Business % M2M-subscriptions % The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority 10

11 The Swedish Telecommunications Market 2014 Data communications services Revenues from data communications services to end-users (SEKm) % IP VPN % Netw ork capacity % Dark fibre % Wavelengths to end users % Other refined netw ork services to end users % Internet services Internet subscriptions (thousands) % Dial-up subscriptions % Broadband subscriptions % via cable television % via fiber and fiber-lan % via xdsl % Mobile broadband subscriptions % of w hich mobile broadband as a stand-alone service % of w hich mobile broadband as an add-on service % Revenues from fixed Internet subscriptions (SEKm) % Private % Business % TV services Number of subscriptions per distribution platform (thousands) % via cable television % via digital terrestrial television % via satellite % via iptv % via fiber and fiber-lan % via xdsl % via SMATV % Bundled services Number of bundled subscriptions (thousands) % Source: The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority, June 18, [1] From 2013 register based data on number of households is used, w hich means that revenues per household in 2013 are not entirely comparable w ith previous periods. The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority 11

12 The Swedish Telecommunications Market Aims and method The aim of this report is to chart the development of a large part of the Swedish end-user market for electronic communications. The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS), has been tasked both with tracking developments in the electronic communications market and promoting competition in that same market. As a part of this task, PTS collects market data and produces market analyses. In addition to PTS's own internal requirements for market data, it is also important that the general public, operators and other businesses and organisations have access to the statistics, which is another reason why PTS publishes market statistics. The Swedish Telecommunications Market report should primarily be regarded as PTS's report of statistics on the electronic communications market, and the focus thus lies on descriptive statistics. The report is also available in a full-year version, which is more comprehensive. The statistics for 2014 have mainly been collected via an online survey. Number porting data is based on information from Swedish Number Portability Administrative Center (SNPAC) Structure and implementation Data collection The data collection that forms the basis of this report is covered by an obligation to reply, and has been since The data collection for 2014 was conducted via an online questionnaire distributed to a total of 481 telecommunications companies in January The data was collected from January to March 2015, and the initial dispatch was followed up with reminders via and post. A few businesses that did not respond were reminded via telephone. At the beginning of April, responses had come in from 449 companies, resulting in a response rate of 93 per cent. Operator data continues to be collected and adjusted even after the Swedish Telecommunications Market report has been published, however, which means that the PTS operator statistics database 2 is continually updated The PTS database is available at the PTS statistics portal statistik.pts.se The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority 12

13 The Swedish Telecommunications Market 2014 The telecommunications companies that completed the questionnaire indicated the areas in which they conducted operations over the course of The number of companies that had operated within the different areas is shown in the table below. Note that a telecommunications company can operate in several areas. Areas 2014 Fixed call services 112 Interconnection in fixed networks 30 Mobile call and data services 61 Interconnection in mobile networks 30 Internet subscriptions 165 Television services 17 Bundled subscriptions 31 Data communications services - wholesale 150 Data communications services end-user 147 Broadband access - to operators and end-users 170 Total number consulted 449 For a complete list of the operators that responded, see the attached list of participants in Appendix Discrepancies and updates of data Measurement errors arise for various reasons during the data collection process, which may be due to a number of error sources: Those consulted did not answer all of the questions in the survey Not all operators in the market responded to the survey The responses were misleading due to the fact that it was not possible to produce an exact value based on the company s accounts, the instructions were misunderstood or inadequate, or incorrect information was submitted The measurement errors are judged not to be large and can often be compensated for by starting from previously collected data or by estimating based on related questions in the survey. The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority 13

14 The Swedish Telecommunications Market 2014 As the information reported in percentages has been rounded off, the sum of the parts is not always 100 per cent. The historical statistics are revised as PTS obtains corrections and further information. For that reason, the statistics for one and the same year can differ between editions of the report. The latest updated database is available on the PTS online statistics portal ( For a more detailed description of measurement errors and non-response, see the attached quality declaration, Appendix Historical information and market shares The development of the market is reported using statistics that, in some cases, go as far back as Since 2006, PTS has also published data on market shares for variables at the end-user level for every collection period. Market shares for a number of different variables are included in the report, but significantly more information is published on the online statistics portal. The variables judged to be inadequate, or which are misleading in another way, are not published on the statistics portal. 1.4 Definitions Definitions that form the basis for this report are also used in the questionnaire, and these definitions are continually revised so that they are in sync with market developments. The segmentation of the individual submarkets can change from year to year. Since 2003, PTS has also considered the information requirements for conducting market analyses and for deciding whether any operator has significant market power. Despite these changes, it is, for the most part, still possible to compare the information with that of previous reports. Types of internet connection With regard to internet services, it is common to mix up expressions such as fixed connection, broadband connection, wireless connection, mobile connection, broadband etc. as there are no standardised accepted definitions. In this report, the terms are defined according to the list below. Dial-up connection Fixed connection Mobile connection PSTN, ISDN PSTN, ISDN, fixed radio, satellite, xdsl, cable television, fibre, fibre LAN, LTE, HSPA, CDMA 2000, UMTS, EDGE The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority 14

15 The Swedish Telecommunications Market 2014 Wireless connection Wired connection Broadband connection Mobile broadband Mobile broadband as a stand-alone service Mobile broadband as an add-on service fixed radio, satellite, LTE, HSPA, CDMA 2000, UMTS, EDGE PSTN, ISDN, xdsl, cable television, fibre, fibre LAN fixed radio, satellite, xdsl, cable television, fibre, fibre LAN, LTE, HSPA, CDMA 2000 In this report, mobile broadband refers to subscriptions to mobile packet data when it is purchased both as a standalone service and as an add-on service Subscriptions primarily used for mobile packet data, and where data access was used at least once during the latest quarter of the period, or where subscription fees were paid during the latest quarter of the period. The subscription must not have generated any voice traffic minutes during the latest quarter of the period. Refers to bundling products where the subscriber purchases at least 1 GB of data traffic per month, either as an add-on service or included in the subscription. In practice, this means smart phones used for both calls and mobile broadband. The terms private customer and business customer In a number of cases, the statistics reported are divided between private and business customers, respectively. The definitions of private and business customers are based on who pays for the services, not who the user is. The criterion for the party paying being designated a business customer (including organisations that are not businesses) is that it has an organisation registration number. The remainder are designated as private customers. This means, however, that businesses and organisations registered under a personal identity number are included in the private customer category. Households From 2013 onwards, Statistics Sweden (Statistiska Centralbyrån; SCB) has changed the method it uses to gather statistics on households, with these now being based entirely on information from registries. Accordingly, PTS has chosen to use the new household data that have become available, beginning in This means that statistics related to the number of households in this report are not completely comparable to the corresponding statistics from editions before 2013, where the data concerning households was based upon replies from private individuals and property owners. The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority 15

16 Thousand subscriptions The Swedish Telecommunications Market Market Development: Subscriptions 2.1 Fixed call services In December 2014 there were almost 3.8 million fixed telephone subscriptions in Sweden, compared with 3.9 million in December A drop of 4 per cent. Figure 1 Number of fixed call services subscriptions PSTN WLR ISDN IP-telephony 2.8 million of the fixed subscriptions were private. If we consider that there are 4.2 million households in Sweden then approximately 66 per cent of Swedish householders in December 2014 had a fixed subscription, representing a drop from 70 per cent the previous year. The number of fixed telephony subscriptions via PSTN 3 and ISDN 4 continues to fall, while the number of IP telephony subscriptions continued to rise during Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) is the traditional circuit-switched telephone network. 4 Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is a standard for digital telephony, which involves an upgrade of the traditional copper network to provide two channels per subscriber line. The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority 16

17 The Swedish Telecommunications Market 2014 Subscriptions via PSTN On December there were 2.1 million subscriptions for fixed telephony via PSTN. Of these 518,000 were with a provider other than TeliaSonera WLR 5. The number of subscriptions via WLR fell by 5 per cent compared with the same time in the previous year. The ability to choose an operator other than TeliaSonera for call charges, carrier pre-selection as it is known, was introduced in 1999 and at its peak in 2003 over 2 million subscriptions were via carrier pre-selection. This figure has fallen dramatically since then and at the end of December 2014, the number was 58,000, 42 per cent down on the previous year. Subscriptions via ISDN At the end of December 2014 there were 80,000 subscriptions via ISDN, which is 10 per cent less than the previous December. Their 26,000 subscriptions gave TeliaSonera 33 per cent of all ISDN subscriptions. Subscriptions via IP telephony In addition to the traditional, fixed circuit-switched telephony the operators offer VoIP (Voice over IP). This is done through a connection to the IP network over which the operator itself has control, in contrast to what is known as internet telephony (such as Skype). Such IP telephony has services and quality that correspond to those of traditional circuit-switched PSTN technology. On the last day of December 2014 there were over 1.7 million IP telephony subscriptions, which is an increase of 11 per cent on the same date in The number of IP based subscriptions has increased gradually over recent years to stand at 46 per cent of all fixed telephony subscriptions in December The number of subscriptions for IP telephony over xdsl stood at 652,000 at the end of December 2014, which is an increase of 10 per cent or 59,000 over the same date the previous year. At the same time subscriptions for IP telephony over cable TV went up by 21,000, or 6 per cent, to 351,000 on December Wholesale Line Rental (WLR) means that the subscriber can pay both the subscription and call charges to an operator other than Telia. Before WLR was introduced in 2004, many subscribers paid a subscription charge to TeliaSonera and a traffic bill to another company (known as 'pre-selection telephony') The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority 17

18 The Swedish Telecommunications Market 2014 The number of subscriptions for IP telephony via fibre or fibre LAN was 582,000 at the end of December 2014, which is an increase of 111,000 or 23 per cent compared with the same time the previous year. Other IP based access 6 fell by 21,000 subscriptions to stand at 158,000 at the end of December Com Hem, TeliaSonera and Telenor (including Glocalnet and Bredbandsbolaget) are the major players in IP telephony with a combined total of 76 per cent of all subscribers. Subscriptions via SIP trunks It is common for companies and organisations that use IP telephony in their internal networks to connect their local IP based subscriber switchboard to the traditional circuit-switched telephone network (PSTN) via a local gateway located with the client. Two connections are needed for this; the standard IP based external connection to the internet and in addition a special external link based on ISDN. Many service providers now offer an alternative to this with the same external IP based connection used for both data and voice. In order to establish, modify and terminate IP telephone calls Session Initiation Protocol, SIP 7, is used, via what is known as an SIP trunk where PSTN is reached via a central gateway placed with the operator. For the company this means that they no longer need a local a PSTN gateway or ISDN connections. At the end of December 2014 there were 13,000 SIP trunk subscriptions, which is an increase of 26 per cent on the same time one year earlier when there were 9,300. The number of SIP- addresses, i.e. active user accounts for telephony, increased by 57 per over the same period to reach 228,000 at the end of December The biggest player in the market, by number of SIP addresses, was TelaVox with 83,000 subscriptions for active addresses. 2.2 Mobile call and data services On December 31st 2014 there were a total of 14.5 million mobile subscriptions in Sweden, which is an increase of 1 per cent and 101,000 more subscriptions than at the end of December In addition, there were almost 6.1 million machine-to-machine (M2M) subscriptions which are not included in the above figure. These are reported in a separate section below. 6 Refers to IP telephony subscriptions where the operator has stated that the means of access is unknown. 7 SIP is a protocol for peer-to-peer developed by IETF (RFC 3261) for multimedia and IP telephony. This procedure is initiated by a call to an SIP server. The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority 18

19 Thousand subscriptions The Swedish Telecommunications Market 2014 Figure 2 Number of mobile call and data services subscriptions Mobile broadband, stand-alone service Mobile calls and mobile broadband, add-on service Mobile call and data services (excluding add-on) Mobile calls only Of the total number of subscriptions 10.5 million were contract subscriptions while just over 4 million were top-up cards. The popularity of top-up cards dropped steadily over the last decade down to 28 per cent of all subscriptions in December The equivalent figure ten years ago was 57 per cent. Subscriptions without mobile broadband The number of mobile subscriptions for call services only was just over 3.3 million on December This is a fall of 546,000 subscriptions compared with the same date one year earlier, representing an annual decline of 14 per cent. The number of mobile subscriptions for both calls and data, but which did not include mobile broadband as an add-on service (at least 1 Gbyte) was 2.7 million on December This is a drop of 3 per cent compared with the same period one year earlier. The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority 19

20 Thousand subscriptions The Swedish Telecommunications Market 2014 Mobile broadband subscriptions The number of mobile broadband subscriptions has increased by 10 per cent since December 2013, exceeding 8.5 million by the end of December On 30th December 2014 there were 2.2 million subscriptions for mobile broadband as a stand-alone service 8. Between December 2013 and December 2014 this figure increased by 28, 000, equivalent to an annual increase of 1 per cent. The number of subscriptions for mobile broadband as an add-on service also continued to increase during At the end of December 2014 this figure stood at 6.3 million, which is an increase of 715,000, or 13 per cent, compared with the same date the year before. Subscriptions using 4G (LTE) Figure 3 Number of subscriptions using 4G (LTE) H H Used 4G (LTE) At the end of December 2014 there were over 4 million subscriptions that had used 4G (LTE) network services, which is a dramatic increase of 2.5 million subscriptions over the same date the previous year. Over 1.1 million of these subscriptions came about since the 31 June. 8 Subscriptions that were only used for mobile packages, and did not generate any call traffic during the last quarter in the period. The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority 20