Investments in optical fiber infrastructure grew by almost 20 percent

The migration of users from copper to optical fiber infrastructure also impacted the annual growth in the number of optical fiber connections.

ZAGREB, March 19, 2024 - In the fourth quarter of 2023 the continuous trends from previous periods were recorded in the electronic communications market. Revenue from fixed network telephone services continues to decline, while revenue generated from internet access services is increasing. Revenue from mobile network access has grown by 11.5 percent annually, while revenue from fixed network access has increased by six percent.

At the same time, revenue from paid TV program transmission services is also increasing by about seven percent.

By the end of 2023, there were almost 1,114,000 broadband connections in the fixed network, which is about a 3 % growth compared to 2022. The migration of users to optical fiber infrastructure continues, impacting the annual growth in the number of optical fiber connections by 34.15 percent and a decline in connections on copper infrastructure by almost five percent. The share of users with VHCN broadband connections (networks of very high capacity) in the total number of internet connections in fixed networks at the end of December 2023 was 39 percent, which is a direct result of the increase in investments in optical fiber infrastructure by 19.44 percent compared to the previous year.

While mobile network telephone services are experiencing an increase in users and traffic, the number of users for fixed network telephone services is lower by 2.21 percent, and the total outbound traffic is reduced by 12.7 percent compared to the same period in 2022.

In the fourth quarter of 2023, the number of subscriptions in the pay-TV market increased compared to the same period in 2022. IPTV continues to be the leading technology with a market share of approximately 57 percent of the total number of pay-TV subscribers.

For more information on the electronic communications market please contact the website of the Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries (HAKOM) at the following link.