Growth in Poland’s PLN 5.5bn-a-year mobile internet market to accelerate due to higher prices of telecommunication services

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The mobile internet market in Poland is currently worth PLN 5.5bn (€1.3bn). Most of that is generated by operators’ revenues from data services on smartphones, which already outstrip revenues from mobile broadband by over PLN 1bn (€233m). In the coming years, the market’s growth will accelerate thanks to rising prices of mobile services.

Mobile operators will fight for their profitability by raising prices

In mid-2019, Orange, P4, and T-Mobile all raised the prices of mobile services, in what was the first such increase on the Polish market for a long time. More are likely to follow. Traditional services in Poland are among the cheapest in Europe, and operators have to make major technological investments, mainly related to spectrum acquisition and expansion of the 5G network.

Higher ARPU also from “data” services

Increases in the mobile services market are also reflected in the prices of mobile data transmission services and higher data ARPU, both in terms of data services in telephones and in dedicated access. PMR’s forecasts for 2024 assume an increase in this ratio in each period. The weight of investments related to 5G and lower price sensitivity of customers supports the trend that will result in further increases in the prices of telecommunications services, but the ceiling of increases should be lower and lower. Nevertheless, PMR is cautious in its assessment and assumes that a one-off increase in mobile data ARPU per year will not exceed PLN 1 gross. The highest growth is expected in 2019. It is also worth noting that this year, according to the operator’s announcement, higher service prices are also expected by customers of the Cyfrowy Polsat network.

Mobile data transmission in line with the “more for more” strategy

To avert potential customer dissatisfaction with price hikes, operators are using a strategy whereby they offer a wider range of services together with the higher fee. One of the bargaining cards are bigger data packages, which certainly are good for loyalty and consolidation of the user’s need to use the internet for mobile access.

Increases in the prices of mobile data transmission and the growing base of users of the service will drive further dynamic growth of the mobile internet market in Poland, which currently amounts to PLN 5.5bn (€1.3bn). In 2019-2024 the market is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.4%.

 

Smartphones with the highest number of consumed mobile data

A major part of the mobile internet market in Poland are data services in telephones, which in terms of value already exceed the mobile broadband segment (dedicated access) by over PLN 1bn (€233m). This is a result of a trend in which mobile broadband internet in the dedicated model, as a product category, loses its attractiveness as a result of growing data packages available in voice offers. As a result, data transmission traffic is gradually moving towards smartphones.

Also in the next six years, the market will continue to grow in value, mainly in the mobile segment. Therefore, PMR forecasts a higher increase in the ARPU for data transmission services. On the other hand, the internet segment in the dedicated access segment will see lower price increases. This is a direct result of limited demand for these services and, according to PMR, operators must be more cautious in this respect in order to maintain at least their RGU base. What is important, higher prices in this segment will be visible mainly to home internet offers, which are the most promising, also in the context of the future development of 5G networks in Poland.

More information on the mobile internet market in Poland in the PMR report: “Mobile internet and value-added services market in Poland 2019. Market analysis and development forecasts for 2019-2024”.

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