Product Code: MS03W
This IDC study examines the transformation in the availability and uptake of 4G in the region over the past two years. It analyzes the factors that have driven strong growth since then and discusses the prospects for those factors continuing to operate in the future. In particular, the study looks at what applications of 4G are persuading customers to adopt 4G and the trends in marketing and pricing that operators are following as 4G moves from a high-end niche product into a mass-market service proposition.
"Following a sluggish early phase during 2010-2012, 4G is now firmly established in the mainstream of the European mobile scene," said John Delaney, Associate VP, IDC European Mobility. "2013 proved to be a pivotal year in the growth of 4G in Western Europe, with the number of 4G users growing from just under 4 million at the end of 2012 to more than 20 million at the end of 2013. On current trends, IDC expects the number of 4G users in Western Europe to have reached nearly 50 million by the end of 2014. These figures indicate that 4G uptake is growing more than twice as quickly as 3G uptake did during a comparable period in its history. The factors that are driving 4G growth will continue acting strongly, driving 4G to about a third of all mobile connections by 2018."
Table of Contents
IDC Opinion
In This Study
Situation Overview
- The Spread of 4G Services in Western Europe
- 4G Rollout Was Sluggish in the Early Years
- 4G Rollout Picked Up Pace from Late 2012 Onward
- Operator Strategies for 4G Rollout
- Orange
- EE
- Deutsche Telekom
- Uptake, Usage of 4G Services in Western Europe
- 2013: 4G Took Off in Europe
- Drivers of Growth in 4G Uptake
- Availability, Coverage of 4G Improving Rapidly
- 4G Services Become More Affordable
- Growth in 4G Smartphone Availability
- Well-Established Base of Mobile Internet Users Makes 4G Easier to Sell than 3G
- What is 4G for
- Benefits of 4G
- 4G Changes the Way People Use a Mobile Data Connection
- 4G as a Home Broadband Service
- Deutsche Telekom
- Orange Spain
- EE
- Uptake of 4G by Businesses
Future Outlook
- Development of the 4G Services Market
- 4G Pricing Trends
- Higher Data Allowances
- Lower Entry-Level Price Points
- SIM-only 4G Plans
- Shared 4G Data Plans
- Prepaid 4G Tariffs
- Examples of Operators' 4G Service Pricing and Marketing
- Belgacom
- Bouygues Telecom
- Deutsche Telekom
- EE
- KPN
- Orange
- Telefonica
- Vodafone
- Future Trends in 4G Services and Technologies
- Higher-Speed, Higher-Capacity 4G
- Carrier Expansion
- Carrier Aggregation
- Finding More Spectrum for 4G
- 4G Voice and Messaging
- Implementing Voice Services on a Data Network: VoLTE
- European Operators' Approach to VoLTE
- Orange
- Deutsche Telekom
- Telefonica
- EE
- VoLTE, RCS: Toward a Combined 4G Communications Platform
- 4G Multicast and Broadcast
- 4G Subscriber Forecasts
Essential Guidance
Learn More
- Related Research
- Synopsis
List of Tables
- Table: 4G Coverage of European Operators by Country
List of Figures
- Figure: Commercial Availability of 4G Services in Western Europe: May 2012
- Figure: Commercial Availability of 4G Services in Western Europe: November 2012
- Figure: Western Europe 4G Uptake Growth (Number of Mobile Connections in 000s)
- Figure: Daily Mobile Internet Usage Has Become Majority Behavior
- Figure: 4G Penetration Proceeds More Rapidly than the 3G Penetration
- Figure: Video and Social Media Feature Strongly in EE's 4G Customer Usage Patterns
- Figure: 4G Can Be Used to Deploy a Home Broadband Service
- Figure: Examples of Licensed Spectrum Configuration in 3G and 4G
- Figure: VoLTE and RCS Can Complement Each Other as Service Platforms in Next-Generation Networks
- Figure: Western Europe 4G Connections, 2013-2018
