Electronic Communications Market: Significant Increase in Operators’ Investments Accompanied by Revenue Growth

In the first quarter of the year, operators invested 25 per cent more than in the previous year, while their revenues increased by seven per cent.

ZAGREB, 18 June 2025 - The electronic communications market recorded a 25.8 per cent increase in total operator investment during the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, with investment in fixed networks rising by as much as 30 per cent. Over the same period, total service revenues in the electronic communications market amounted to 441 million euros, representing a 7.1 per cent increase compared to 2024. Revenues from services provided via mobile communication networks rose by 6.65 per cent, while those from services provided via fixed communication networks increased by 8 per cent.

Number of Fibre-Optic Users Continues to Rise

In the first quarter of 2025, the number of connections established via fibre-optic networks continued to grow. On an annual basis, nearly 100,000 new connections were added, bringing the total number of fibre-optic connections to 382,890. At the same time, the number of connections using copper infrastructure fell by 70,628 compared to the same period last year.

The number of connections via very high capacity networks (VHCN) reached 543,129 in the first quarter, accounting for 46.98 per cent of all 1,156,044 fixed broadband internet connections. The proportion of connections with speeds exceeding 100 Mbit/s, regardless of technology, now stands at nearly 50 per cent.

Increased Revenues in the Pay-TV Market

Compared to the same period last year, the pay-TV market saw growth in both total revenue and the number of connections in the first quarter of 2025. Total revenue increased by 11.57 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2024, reaching 36.7 million euros at the start of 2025. The highest percentage increase was recorded in revenue from users of proprietary OTT services, which rose by 143 per cent. A growth trend is also evident in the total number of connections, which increased by 0.86 per cent over the same period, currently standing at 929,990.

The distribution of pay-TV connections by access technology remained largely unchanged from previous periods. IPTV continues to be the most prevalent, accounting for 49.73 per cent of all connections, followed by proprietary OTT services (15.71 per cent), cable networks (13.15 per cent), satellite platforms (12.11 per cent), and terrestrial pay-TV (9.29 per cent).

Market indicators are available on the website of the Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries (HAKOM) via the following link.