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Sweden Broadband Overview

Prior to 1993 the Swedish state controlled the incumbent, public service corporation Televerket. Although the Swedish market has never protected a legal monopoly, Televerket was for a long time the only provider of public voice telecommunications services in Sweden. In 1993, the government transformed Televerket from a state-owned public utility into a limited company and changed its name to Telia AB. In June 2000, the Swedish state sold 30 per cent of Telia shares in an initial public offering.

In December 2002, Telia merged with Finnish Telco Sonera to form TeliaSonera and operators as part of the TeliaSonera Group. The merger brought together two of the leading telecommunications companies in the Nordic region and resulted in a leading telecommunications group in the Nordic and Baltic regions with strong market positions also in Eurasia, Russia and Turkey. In Q2 2007, the Swedish government sold an 8 per cent stake in TeliaSonera to institutional investors for SEK18 billion. The Swedish government is still the single biggest shareholder with a 37.3 per cent stake, while the Finnish government owns a 13.7 per cent stake.

Today, the Swedish telecoms market is characterised by an increasing number of advanced technology users, including mobile broadband, IPTV and VoIP. During 2007, the retail market for electronic communications in Sweden, measured in total revenues for call services, Internet services and data communications services, increased by 2 per cent and showed a total turnover of SEK 50 billion. The market value for fixed call services amounted to SEK 18.2 billion, nearly SEK 1.5 billion less than during 2006. For the first time, the total revenues from mobile network services exceeded total revenues from fixed call services. The number of PSTN telephone subscriptions continued to decrease, while at the same time the number of subscriptions for IP-based telephony increased by 52 per cent to 623,000 subscriptions. The number of pre-select customers decreased by 325,000 during 2007.

The main mobile operators in Sweden are Telia, Tele2, Telenor, Tre and Spring Mobil. The mobile market remains one of the most advanced in Europe, with a broad range of data services available. Competition is strong, particularly between Telia and Tele2. TeliaSonera's 3G network covers about 9 million inhabitants. Furthemore, in May 2008, Telia announced that it had won a 4G licence in Sweden. The operator is going to offer mobile broadband services with over 100 Mbps speeds using the 4G technology by 2010.

In December 2007, 376,000 subscribers used mobile broadband services, almost a quadruple increase from just over 90,000 subscriptions a year earlier. Mobile Internet services accounted for more than SEK 1 billion of the total mobile sector revenues which amounted to SEK 19.7 billion. HSPA and CDMA 2000 based networks cover over 99 per cent of Sweden’s population. Nordisk Mobiltelefon Sverige was one of the first operators to launch the commercial operation of its nationwide network in the 450 MHz band based on CDMA 2000 technology in 2007.