Number of VHCN Connections Exceeds Copper Connections for the First Time

Investment and revenue growth in the electronic communications market continued, alongside accelerated user migration to fibre-optic networks. For the first time, more than half of all internet users have contracted speeds exceeding 100 Mbit/s.

ZAGREB, 12 September 2025 - In the first half of 2025, the electronic communications market saw continued growth in revenue and investment, with an accelerated migration of users to fibre-optic networks and a significant increase in OTT pay-tv services. Investment in networks and the shift of users to fibre increased average internet access speeds, and now over 50 per cent of all internet users have contracted speeds of 100 Mbit/s or higher.

Revenue and Investment Growth

In the first half of the year, total revenues from all services increased by 5.9 per cent compared to the same period last year, reaching €900 million. Mobile network services generated €598 million, up 6.07 per cent, while fixed network revenues amounted to €301 million, representing an 8.1 per cent increase. This growth in revenue was accompanied by higher investment in tangible assets compared to last year. As anticipated, the largest investment increase occurred in VHCN networks, with €60 million invested in the first six months.

Migration of Users to Fibre Networks

In the first half of 2025, the migration of users to fibre-optic networks continued. This resulted in an increase of 106,474 optical connections compared with the same period last year, while connections on the copper network declined by 68,191. The total number of user connections delivered via fibre-optic networks reached 410,206.
In the first half of this year, the number of connections meeting VHCN network criteria reached 565,770, accounting for 48.5 per cent of all 1,165,879 fixed broadband connections. Connections with speeds above 100 Mbit/s, regardless of technology, now represent 51.3 per cent of all users.

Ongoing Trends in Traditional Telephony Services

In the publicly available fixed-line telephony service, the downward trend in outgoing traffic and revenue continued, despite a stable number of users and connections. This indicates a gradual decline in usage of the service, even with an unchanged customer base.
Meanwhile, total revenue from publicly available mobile telephony services remained nearly stable compared to the same period last year, although a slight decrease in revenue from both private and business users was observed due to the shift to data and OTT services. At the same time, the reduction in SMS/MMS traffic and roaming minutes of the company’s own users confirms the continued replacement of traditional communication habits with digital applications.

OTT Pay-Tv Services Show Significant Growth

Revenues from pay-tv in the second quarter of 2025 rose to €38.8 million, representing an increase of 13 percent compared to the previous year. The most notable growth was recorded by the company’s own OTT service, with revenues up 124 percent and the number of subscriptions increasing by 90 percent, reaching 163,189 subscriptions and raising its market share to 17.5 percent. This confirms the accelerated shift of users towards OTT technological solutions. Conversely, the IPTV service recorded a one percent decline in subscriptions, causing its market share to fall below half, to 49 percent.

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