Albania sees market consolidation with 4iG acquisitions
Albania's small telecom market has experienced some significant changes in recent years. Vodafone Albania in early 2021 acquired the ISP ABCom, and committed to invest ¬100 million to upgrade fixed-line infrastructure to support broadband services. In March 2022, 4iG completed the acquisition of One Telecommunications and a majority stake in ALBtelecom. This could lead to the two businesses being merged, meaning that the mobile market has lost one of the main players, leaving the merged entity with a strong dominance in the mobile sector.Consistent with developments elsewhere in the region, fixed-line telephony use and penetration in Albania is declining steadily as subscribers migrate to mobile solutions. The mobile sector is well provided with LTE networks, while operators have invested in 5G, with Ericsson as one of the principal vendors. Some of these efforts have been made in conjunction with neighbouring Kosovo, with the intention of a seamless 5G corridor along the highway connecting the two countries.
The country has long sought accession to the European Union (EU) which has benefited its telecoms sector through closer scrutiny of its regulatory regime and through the injection of funding to help modernise infrastructure. Albania signed a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU, which came into force in mid-2009. As part of the EU pre-accession process, Albania has received financial aid to build public institutions and improve cross-border co-operation under the EU's Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance funding mechanism. Albania has been recognised as a candidate country for accession to the EU since June 2014.
Key Developments:
- 4iG acquires One Telecommunications and ALBtelecom;
- Vodafone Albania to invest ¬100 million in fixed infrastructure following its acquisition of ABCom;
- Albania and Kosovo work to develop a 5G corridor;
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
- Overview of Albania's telecom market
- Regulatory environment
- Historical overview
- Regulatory authority
- Fixed-line developments
- Telecom sector liberalisation
- Privatisation
- Interconnection
- Number Portability (NP)
- Universal Service Obligation (USO)
- Access
- Mobile network developments
- GSM licences
- 3G licences
- Licences - 2015
- Licences - 2016
- 800MHz spectrum
- 700MHz spectrum
- Mobile Termination Rates (MTRs)
- Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
- Roaming
- Mobile market
- Market analysis
- Mobile statistics
- Mobile infrastructure
- 5G
- 4G (LTE)
- Mobile data
- Mobile broadband
- Major mobile operators
- One Telecommunications
- Vodafone Albania
- ALBtelecom
- Plus Communications
- Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs)
- Mobile content and applications
- M-money
- Fixed-line broadband market
- Introduction and statistical overview
- Broadband statistics
- Fixed-line broadband technologies
- Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks
- Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks
- Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks
- Other fixed broadband services
- Digital economy
- e-government
- Fixed network operators
- ALBtelecom
- Albania Online/Albanian Fibre Backbone (AFB)/Primo
- Telecommunications infrastructure
- Overview of the national telecom network
- Albanian National Broadband Network
- International infrastructure
- Appendix - Historic data
- Glossary of abbreviations
- Related reports
List of Tables
List of Charts
List of Exhibits
Companies Mentioned
- Vodafone Albania
- ALBtelecom (Eagle Mobile)
- Telekom Albania (AMC)
- Cosmote
- Turk Telecom
- Primo Communications
- 4iG
