01.04.2009

FICORA market review 2008: Economic downturn not reflected in subscription figures

The use of telecommunications services developed in 2008 as in previous years. The number of broadband subscriptions increased, exceeding the limit of two million in spite of the economic situation. The growth results mainly from the increase in mobile broadband subscriptions, while DSL subscriptions started to decrease. At the end of 2008, there were almost 500,000 mobile broadband subscriptions in Finland, corresponding to 23 per cent of all broadband subscriptions. Also other types of broadband, such as broadband to premises and buildings, increased in number.

The favourable development of mobile broadband contributed to the increase in the total number of mobile subscriptions. Mobile subscriptions increased by 12 per cent in 2008. The number of calls remained the same as in 2007, but the average call duration was about ten seconds longer.

There were no significant changes in the prices of telecommunications services as a whole in 2008. The prices of fast broadband services decreased whereas the prices of slower services increased slightly. Prices on the mobile market remained at the previous year's level, and many small service operators offered more favourable prices than the big ones with their major subscription products.

Media advertising at the previous year's level

The sum of money spent for media advertising did not increase from 2007. The economic downturn had an impact on media advertising especially in late 2008. However, focus on electronic media increased, by 34 per cent for web media. The largest single media group in terms of advertising are newspapers.

Addresses are changed by electronic means

There were no significant changes in the quality of postal services. Finns are increasingly interested in making their address change over the internet. In 2002, internet was used for every fiftieth change but in 2008, already more than 50 per cent of all changes were made electronically. The internet service was also considered to be better than all the other available means.

FICORA market review 2008

FICORA publishes an annual market review of the previous year. The review contains basic information on mobile and broadband subscriptions and market information on TV, radio and postal operations. In addition to the annual market review, FICORA publishes three shorter market reviews. The next market review, to be published at the end of June, contains comparison data on international communications markets. Information on the Finnish communications market development is published again in the autumn in a biannual review.

FICORA market review 2008 is available in Finnish at www.ficora.fi. The English version will be published later.

Further information:
Jukka-Pekka Juutinen, Communications Market Specialist, tel. +358 9 6966 433 (telecom issues)
Joonas Orkola, Communications Market Specialist, tel. +358 9 6966 734 (telecom issues)
Tiina Aaltonen, Development Manager, tel. +358 9 6966 430 (tv, radio and postal issues)