Some indicators of development of electronic communication services, Slovenia, 2005, 2006, 2007

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The number of active users of the mobile network increases more intensively than the number of connections on fixed locations

The publicly available service of speech transmission from fixed locations was at the end of 2007 realized by ten operators, nine of them with their own or rented network. Eleven operators offered fixed telephone services by selection or preselection of the operator.

The number of connections on fixed locations increased minimally from 2006 to 2007. It must be said that the number of classical PSTN and ISDN connections actually fell by 7%, while the number of VoIP connections, enabling speech communication at attractive prices, became larger. There were about 45 thousand VoIP connections in 2006; by the end of 2007 their number increased to 122 thousand or 14% of all connections on fixed locations. IP telephony (which is offered by nine operators) reduces the prices of telecommunication services, which is expressed by strongly diminishing turnover per average connection on fixed location. In the last year it was reduced by EUR 22, while the average turnover per user of mobile network increased almost by the same amount from 2006 to 2007.

In the field of mobile telephony, at the end of 2006 two network operators and two operators performing electronic communication activity were registered. In 2007 the mobile telephony market was enriched by a new network operator with its own infrastructure (Tušmobil d.o.o.).

The number of active users of the mobile network rose more intensively than the number of connections on fixed locations – by 6% compared to the end of 2006. Supposing that each user made only one contract with the mobile operator or had only one prepaid card, 96% of the population of Slovenia can be counted as mobile network users.

Only 5% of all outgoing telephone traffic was directed to international networks

The result of total outgoing telephone traffic of 2006 was exceeded in 2007; as regards growth, international traffic overtook national traffic. However, the latter has represented at least 95% of all outgoing telephone traffic in the last three years, ranging from 4.1 to 4.3 billion minutes.

Compared to 2006, national traffic in 2007 increased by more than one percent. The majority was originated in mobile networks, while 36% of national traffic - or 10 percentage points less than in 2005 - came from fixed locations. Regarding the direction of calls, data show that 9% of traffic generated in the fixed network was directed to the mobile network, while only 5% of traffic from the mobile network ended in the fixed network.

Due to the changing over to broadband internet access, the duration of narrowband connections fell significantly. Traffic of narrowband connections has been practically cut in half every year from 2004 on. According to the results of the ICT ¹⁾ survey, which confirm the extended use of broadband connections, from the first quarter of 2006 to the first quarter of 2007 the number of private users (households) of broadband connections increased more (by 10 percentage points) than the number of business users (by 5 percentage points).

The number of SMS sent in 2007 was a tenth above the level of the previous year, which is the smallest increase from 2001 on, when the data were available for the first time.

The majority of turnover from mobile telephony services in 2007, too

Electronic communications services were performed in 2007 on average by 4,945 persons, approximately a third of them women. This number does not include only persons working in telecommunication services (broadband internet access, mobile and fixed telephony services) but also those performing radio broadcasting services.

Compared to the previous year, in 2007 the turnover from electronic communications services increased by 5%, which is less than in 2006, when the growth was 10%.

Besides the enlarged turnover from interconnection services, the turnover from mobile telephony increased significantly compared to 2006. Turnover from mobile telephony has represented the greatest part of the total turnover of electronic communications since 2000. In 2007 its share was 42%, followed by turnover from fixed telephony services with 17%. The turnover from fixed telephony services did not reach the level of the previous year.

After being slightly lower in 2005, the value of investments in electronic communications has increased each year almost by a third.

¹⁾ Comparisons are limited due to the methodological differences.