According to figures reported in its latest set of financial results, Telefonica Moviles Espana (TME) is experiencing a steady increase in data revenues as a percentage of total service revenues. Data revenue amounted to almost EUR 237 million (USD 286) in Q2 2004, representing almost 13% of total revenue.
Telefonica Moviles Espana data revenue and ARPU (EUR)
| |
Q2 2002 |
Q3 2002 |
Q4 2002 |
Q1 2003 |
Q2 2003 |
Q3 2003 |
Q4 2003 |
Q1 2004 |
Q2 2004 |
| Data revenue as % of total revenue |
12.6 |
12.3 |
12.6 |
12.8 |
11.9 |
13.5 |
12.6 |
13.2 |
12.8 |
| ARPU |
25.6 |
30.1 |
28.2 |
28.85 |
29.5 |
31.4 |
29.7 |
29.5 |
33 |
| Data ARPU |
- |
3.6 |
- |
3.52 |
- |
4 |
- |
3.88 |
4 |
| SMS ARPU |
- |
- |
- |
3.3 |
- |
- |
- |
3.43 |
- |
| Source: Company Reports,
EMC World Cellular Data Metrics |
Figures related to SMS revenue show that SMS still represents the main source of revenue in the mobile data segment, generating 88.1% of data revenue in H1 2004.
Telefonica Moviles Espana data revenue composition (percentages)
| |
2002 |
Q1
2003 |
H1
2003 |
2003 |
Q1
2004 |
H1
2004 |
| P2P SMS |
81.2 |
77.9 |
78.3 |
76.3 |
73.2 |
72.7 |
| Content SMS |
15.0 |
16.6 |
15.3 |
14.9 |
14.8 |
15.4 |
| Data Transmission |
3.8* |
2 |
6.2* |
8.3 |
6 |
10.7 |
| Downloads & Browsing |
3.3 |
4.1 |
| MMS |
- |
0.1 |
0.2 |
0.5 |
1.6 |
- |
Sources: Company reports,
EMC World Cellular Data Metrics
* Reported as 'other Data Revenue' |
While the proportion of data revenues accounted for by SMS declined from 96% in 2002 to 88% at the end of H1 2004, the revenue generated from such services appears to have remained robust. Traditional (P2P) and premium SMS accounted for a monthly ARPU of EUR 3.88 in Q1 2004, more than 10% of the blended ARPU. The results have been boosted mainly by the increased profitability of content SMS, which offset declining margins for traditional P2P SMS.
Data transmission, together with downloads and browsing, represents the fastest growing data segment in terms of contributions to revenues. At the end of H1 2004 the proportion of data transmission revenue as a percentage of total data revenue exceeded 10% and is expected to increase during the coming years. The main drivers of this growth appear to be both the adoption of i-mode and, to a greater extent, the progressive uptake of GPRS. Telefonica Moviles Espana had 2.47 million active GPRS users at the end of Q2 2004, while its i-mode service (launched in June 2003) had 450,000 active users at the end of H1 2004.
| |
Q3
2003 |
Q4
2003 |
Q1
2004 |
Q2
2004 |
| All GPRS active users |
800,000 |
1,400,000 |
2,150,000 |
2,470,000 |
| - i-mode |
- |
170,000 |
300,000 |
450,000 |
| - MMS |
- |
500,000 |
650,000 |
780,000 |
| Sources: Company Results,
EMC World Cellular Data Metrics |
The number of active MMS users is progressively increasing, totalling 780,000 at the end of Q2 2004. However, within this user base MMS usage is still somewhat limited. Most cameraphone owners merely store photos in their photo album rather than sending pictures via MMS
