Bulgaria's MNOs approach 70% population coverage with 5G
Bulgaria's telecom market was for some years affected by the difficult macroeconomic climate, as well as by relatively high unemployment and a shrinking population. These factors continue to hobble investment in the sector, though revenue growth has returned since 2019. There still remains pressure on revenue growth, however, with consumers migrating from fixed-line voice telephony to mobile and VoIP alternatives, while the volume of SMS and MMS traffic has been affected by the growing use of alternative OTT messaging services.The mature mobile market has effective competition between A1 Bulgaria, Yettel (branded as Telenor Bulgaria before March 2022, the Telenor Group's local unit that had been sold to the PPF Group in August 2018), and the incumbent telco Vivacom. Competition intensified following the implementation of a streamlined mobile number portability process. In addition, customer preference for bundled services has put pressure on pricing and encouraged operators to offer generous voice and data packages. This in turn has impacted on operator revenue.
Vivacom was sold to United Group in April 2020, following European Commission approval. The company is investing in network upgrades and its development of services based on 5G have stimulated other market players to invest in their own service provision. A1 Bulgaria and Vivacom both launched commercial 5G services in 2020, and by the end of 2022 about 70% of the population is expected to be covered by 5G.
The broadband market in Bulgaria enjoys excellent cross-platform competition. The share of the market held by DSL has fallen steadily as a result of customers being migrated to fibre networks, particularly those operated by the incumbent telco Vivacom. By early 2021 about 65% of fixed-line broadband subscribers were on fibre infrastructure.
This report provides an overview of Bulgaria's fixed-line telecom market, including data on regulatory developments, the strategies of the major operators and an assessment of the evolution of fixed-line networks. The report also reviews the mobile voice and data segments; including a variety of statistics and analyses covering the major operators, market developments and services offered. In addition, the report covers the fixed-line and fixed-wireless broadband sectors, includes an assessment of technologies, the major players, market developments and statistics as well as subscriber forecasts.
Key Developments:
- Vivacom Bulgaria acquired by United Group, extends 5G services to more than 530 towns;
- SpaceX's Starlink satellite broadband service is made available in Bulgaria;
- Telenor Bulgaria is rebranded as Yettel;
- Bulgaria joins the U.S. State Department's Clean Network initiative in a bid to protect its 5G communications networks;
- Yettel releases smart monitoring platform for utilities;
Table of Contents
- Key statistics
- Regional Europe Market Comparison
- Market characteristics
- Market Leaders
- Market Challengers
- Market Emergents
- TMI versus GDP
- Mobile and mobile broadband penetration
- Fixed versus mobile broadband penetration
- Country overview
- Telecommunications market
- Market analysis
- Regulatory environment
- Historical overview
- Regulatory authority
- Fixed line development
- Telecom sector liberalisation
- Privatisation
- Interconnect
- Access
- Number Portability (NP)
- Carrier selection/Carrier PreSelection
- Mobile network developments
- 5G
- GSM licences
- 3G licences
- 800MHz
- 1800MHz
- 2.5-2.6GHz
- Other spectrum
- Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
- Roaming
- Mobile Termination Rate (MTR)
- Mobile market
- Market analysis
- Mobile statistics
- Mobile infrastructure
- 5G
- 4G (LTE)
- 3G
- GSM
- Mobile voice
- Mobile data
- Mobile broadband
- Major mobile operators
- Vivacom
- A1 Bulgaria (MobilTel/M-Tel)
- Yettel (Telenor Bulgaria, Cosmo Bulgaria Mobile/GloBul)
- Mobile content and applications
- Mobile virtual network Operators (MVNOs)
- Fixed-line broadband market
- Introduction and statistical overview
- Broadband statistics
- Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks
- Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks
- Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP)
- Other fixed broadband services
- World Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)
- Satellite broadband
- Digital economy
- E-Entertainment
- E-Learning
- E-payments
- E-government
- E-health
- Fixed network operators
- Introduction
- Vivacom/Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC)
- A1 Bulgaria
- Telecommunications infrastructure
- Overview of the national telecom network
- International networks
- Smart Grid
- Appendix - Historic data
- Glossary of abbreviations
- Related reports
List of Tables
List of Charts
List of Exhibits
Companies Mentioned
- Vivacom
- Orbitel
- Vestitel
- A1 Bulgaria (MobilTel)
- Yettel (Telenor Bulgaria)
- PPF Group
- Trans Telecom
- Blizoo
- Max Telecom
- T.com
- United Group
