I generally tend to be an occasional poster dipping in and out, but earlier this year I did suggest a local Northern Irish thread for the mobile forum to cover issues on a local level. I don't see any (apologies if it has), so here goes...
With the Ofcom Communications Market Report 2015 being released, one area worth checking out is the operator market share. For a number of years O2 has been dominant in Northern Ireland, recording a 65% share in 2014, so what's changed...
2014 Figures
2015 Figures
* O2's market share has gone down a few points particularly in rural areas, but it is still top dog by a large margin.
* Vodafone's share has gone down slightly by an apparent exodus of urban users however they have picked up more rural subscribers.
* 3 have recorded a significant growth share in urban locations, rising from 5% to 10% with a very modest increase in rural locations. If you don't treat EE, Orange & T-Mobile as one network, then they are the second place network in urban areas. Not bad considering that they still don't have any 4G coverage here, not even the centre of Belfast!
* EE's total share across its three brands remains static however like Vodafone they have lost share in urban areas but gained in rural locations. One major anomaly is how on earth have T-Mobile risen in rural locations from a 1% share to 5%? Answers on a postcard.
* Tesco mobile have increased their share modestly with an increase in rural areas. Possibly ex-O2 customers switching while maintaining coverage?
* Virgin continue to have no effective presence in NI.
* Interestingly for "others" there is little significance in rural areas but it has notably grown in urban areas. Maybe the likes of giffgaff and so on?
The main winners over the past year seem to be 3 - again I just can't understand how T-Mobile have made a significant increase in rural areas when the brand is being phased out and never has been popular in NI. O2 remains rather static in urban areas, but have taken a 7 point cut in rural areas. But they're back to roughly the same levels that they were in 2013 in general.
I'll look at things like population coverage shortly.
Last edited by Redcoat : 27-08-2015 at 23:32
With the Ofcom Communications Market Report 2015 being released, one area worth checking out is the operator market share. For a number of years O2 has been dominant in Northern Ireland, recording a 65% share in 2014, so what's changed...
2014 Figures
Code:
Network (% share across NI - NI Urban share/NI Rural Share) O2 (65 - 62/69) Vodafone (12 - 13/11) EE (3 - 3/3) Orange (8 - 9/8) T-Mobile (1 - 2/1) 3 (4 - 5/3) Tesco (3 - 3/3) Virgin (1 - 1/0) Other (1 - 1/0) Unsure (1 - 1/1) EE Total (12 - 14/12)
Code:
Network (% share across NI - NI Urban share/NI Rural Share) O2 (61 - 60/62) Vodafone (11 - 9/15) EE (7 - 6/7) Orange (3 - 3/2) T-Mobile (2 - 0/5) 3 (7 - 10-4) Tesco (4 - 4/5) Virgin (1 - 1/0) Other (3 - 6/0) Unsure (1 - 1/0) EE Total (12 - 9/14)
* Vodafone's share has gone down slightly by an apparent exodus of urban users however they have picked up more rural subscribers.
* 3 have recorded a significant growth share in urban locations, rising from 5% to 10% with a very modest increase in rural locations. If you don't treat EE, Orange & T-Mobile as one network, then they are the second place network in urban areas. Not bad considering that they still don't have any 4G coverage here, not even the centre of Belfast!
* EE's total share across its three brands remains static however like Vodafone they have lost share in urban areas but gained in rural locations. One major anomaly is how on earth have T-Mobile risen in rural locations from a 1% share to 5%? Answers on a postcard.
* Tesco mobile have increased their share modestly with an increase in rural areas. Possibly ex-O2 customers switching while maintaining coverage?
* Virgin continue to have no effective presence in NI.
* Interestingly for "others" there is little significance in rural areas but it has notably grown in urban areas. Maybe the likes of giffgaff and so on?
The main winners over the past year seem to be 3 - again I just can't understand how T-Mobile have made a significant increase in rural areas when the brand is being phased out and never has been popular in NI. O2 remains rather static in urban areas, but have taken a 7 point cut in rural areas. But they're back to roughly the same levels that they were in 2013 in general.
I'll look at things like population coverage shortly.
Last edited by Redcoat : 27-08-2015 at 23:32
There's still some holes in coverage especially in parts of Mid-Tyrone and South Fermanagh, but I expect these will be given attention in due course - their 95% indoor coverage obligation due date of the end of 2017 is slowly creeping up.