FICORA's market review: Decline in telecom service prices at retail level

At retail level, the overall price level of telecom services fell by roughly three per cent in 2009 compared to the previous year. Since there were no changes in the general consumer price level, the nominal and actual price level changes of telecom services were the same.

Mobile service prices fell, fixed-line service prices rose

The overall price level of telecom services was strongly influenced by the fallen price level of mobile services, because for residential customers, its value in euros is clearly greater than that of the fixed network.

The price level of mobile telephone services, which include voice, SMS and MMS messages, fell by eight per cent. The price level of other data transmission in the mobile broadband and mobile network fell by more than seven per cent. Approximately 62 per cent of the money spent on telecom services went to mobile services.

The price level of fixed-line voice services rose by nearly 10 per cent. A significant reason for the risen prices of minute-based voice services was the rapid drop in the use of fixed-line telephone services. The price level of fixed-line data transmission services, mostly fixed-line broadband services, rose by nearly seven per cent. Approximately 38 per cent of the money spent on telecom services went to fixed-line services.

FICORA's market review takes a look at the telecom service price level in Finland

FICORA's market review 2/2010 explores the price development of telecom services consumed by households in 2009 in comparison with the previous years. The review also includes price information from public sources, such as mobile telephone service prices. Also, the review compares the mobile telephone service prices in Finland with the price level of other EU countries.

The FICORA market review 2/2010 is available in Finnish at www.ficora.fi. The English version will be published later.

Further information:

Torsti Alhava, Communications Market Specialist, tel. +358 9 6966 461, +358 50 514 8285
Joonas Orkola, Communications Market Specialist, tel. +358 9 6966 734, +358 40 486 6018