With the arrival of Iliad on the Italian market, the price of phone subscriptions has decreased, as well as the revenues of phone operators
The arrival of Iliad on the Italian market in May 2018 brought a breath of fresh air to the mobile phone sector, which had remained rather stuck for the last five years. The aggressive pricing policy introduced by Iliad has allowed many users to switch phone subscription offers, saving a few tens of euros every year. A considerable saving in a historical period in which the electricity, gas and water bills continue to increase.
To confirm what has just been said, comes also the annual report of Agcom (the Authority for Communications Guarantees): in 2018, Italians’ spending on the mobile network fell by 6%. The decrease is not due to a drop in subscribers, but to the lower prices that operators had to offer to stem the Iliad effect. Italy’s fourth largest phone operator, in little more than a year has managed to gain a good slice of the market and has been appreciated for a very clear pricing policy: no hidden costs and subscription price locked forever.
Telephony, in 2018 revenues are down
For phone companies, 2018 was not a year to remember. First they clashed with Agcom for 28-day billing (in these days the companies involved are presenting their customers with a reversal plan with services and promotions on offer) and then they had to “suffer” the arrival of Iliad. And the effect on revenues has been felt. Analyzing Agcom’s annual report, it immediately jumps out at the data on mobile network revenues, down 6.4% in 2018 compared to the previous year. It went from 13.73 billion to 12.84 billion. On the other hand, the trend is positive as far as the fixed network is concerned: since no new player has arrived on the market, the companies’ revenues have increased by 1% from 12.77 billion to 12.89 billion. All in all, the revenues generated by the telephony market fell by 2.9%.
Investments in growth thanks to 5G
In addition to the decrease in prices for mobile subscriptions, there is another positive fact to report: the increase in investments for the installation of new antennas and to improve the quality of service. The merit is mainly due to the new super-fast 5G network: all the main Italian phone operators have started to install their antennas in the main Italian cities to activate the service as soon as possible.
Tim and Vodafone have already presented their first offers for 5G, while Wind – Tre and Fastweb have announced a partnership to finish the work by 2026. Iliad is also in the game and has been awarded three packages of the MiSE tender for frequencies for 5G.
With the arrival of the new super-fast network, however, the trend of subscription prices should reverse, with a definite increase due to the better quality of service. We’ll see what happens in the coming years.