Archive:Telecommunications services statistics - NACE Rev. 2
- Data from April 2013. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.
This article presents an overview of statistics for the telecommunications services sector in the European Union (EU), as covered by NACE Rev. 2 Division 61.
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(% share of sectoral total) - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r)
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Main statistical findings
Structural profile
There were 40.2 thousand enterprises operating within the telecommunications services (Division 61) sector in the EU-27 in 2010. Together they employed 1.1 million persons, equivalent to 0.8 % of the non-financial business economy (Sections B to J and L to N and Division 95) workforce, or almost one in five (18.9 %) of those employed in information and communication services (Section J). The EU-27 telecommunications services sector generated EUR 180 000 million of value added in 2009, which was 3.3 % of the non-financial business economy total (also 2009) and well in excess of one third (37.7 %) of the information and communication services total (again 2009).
As such, with a considerably higher share of value added than employment, the telecommunications services sector had apparent labour productivity that was well above average. EU-27 productivity (using this measure) was EUR 160.0 thousand of value added per person employed in 2010, which was 3.6 times as high as the non-financial business economy average of EUR 44.8 thousand per person employed and almost double the information and communication services average of EUR 84.6 thousand per person employed. When ranking all of the NACE divisions within the non-financial business economy, telecommunications services had the fourth highest level of apparent labour productivity in 2010.
Average personnel costs for the EU-27 telecommunications services sector were, at EUR 51.0 thousand per employee, less elevated than apparent labour productivity — some two thirds higher than the non-financial business economy average of EUR 30.9 thousand per employee. Average personnel costs per employee for the telecommunications services sector were only EUR 1.6 thousand per employee higher than the average for the whole of information and communication services.
As a result, the wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio (which combines the two previous indicators and shows the extent to which value added per person employed covers average personnel costs per employee) stood at 315.0 % for the EU-27 telecommunications services sector in 2010. This was the fourth highest level of wage-adjusted labour productivity among the NACE divisions that compose the non-financial business economy and well above the information and communication services average of 171.0 % or the non-financial business economy average of 144.8 %.
The gross operating rate (the relation between the gross operating surplus and turnover) is one measure of operating profitability; it stood at 29.1 % for the EU-27’s telecommunications services sector in 2010, which was just less than three times as high as the non-financial business economy average (10.1 %) and some 8.2 percentage points above the information and communication services average (20.9 %). As such, the telecommunication services sector recorded the seventh highest level of profitability (using this measure) among the NACE divisions within the non-financial business economy.
Sectoral analysis
More than half of all the enterprises that were active within the EU-27’s telecommunications services sector in 2010 were classified in the residual grouping of other telecommunications activities (Group 61.9), some 22.7 enterprises or 56.4 % of the telecommunications services total. The next largest subsector (in terms of numbers of enterprises) was that of wired telecommunications activities (Group 61.1), for which there were 10.9 thousand enterprises across the EU-27 in 2010. This was about twice as many as the number of enterprises whose principal activity was wireless telecommunications (5 600, Group 61.2), while there were relatively few enterprises operating with their principal activity in satellite telecommunications (949, Group 61.3).
The relative weight of these four subsectors was somewhat different in terms of employment. Wired telecommunications activities were the main employer, with an EU-27 workforce of 535.8 thousand persons in 2010 (49.1 % of the telecommunications services total). Just over 3 out of every 10 persons employed within the EU-27’s telecommunications services workforce were working in other telecommunications activities, while almost one in five persons were employed within wireless telecommunications activities.
Wireless telecommunications activities had a far higher share of value added (EUR 51.9 billion) within the EU-27’s telecommunications services sector in 2010. This was still well behind the value added generated by wired telecommunications activities (EUR 83.2 billion), but considerably higher than the corresponding figure for other telecommunications activities (EUR 37.7 billion).
The EU-27 recorded apparent labour productivity in excess of EUR 100 thousand per person employed in all three of the subsectors for which data are available (no information for satellite communications). Wireless telecommunications activities had the highest level of apparent labour productivity, EUR 241.5 thousand per person employed in 2010, while the ratio for wired telecommunications activities was EUR 155.2 thousand per person employed, followed by that for other telecommunications activities (EUR 115.1 thousand per person employed).
There was a high degree of similarity regarding average personnel costs across the EU-27 telecommunications services subsectors in 2010. For wired, wireless and satellite telecommunications activities, average personnel costs ranged between EUR 50.9 thousand and EUR 50.0 thousand per employee (data for satellite telecommunications are for 2009), while those for other telecommunications activities were only slightly higher, at EUR 52.7 thousand per employee.
As such, with little difference in average personnel costs, the ranking of subsectors according to their wage-adjusted labour productivity ratios was highly influenced by apparent labour productivity. EU-27 wireless telecommunications activities had a very high wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio, at 482.7 %. As such, wireless telecommunications activities recorded the fifth highest wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio among the NACE groups that form the non-financial business economy in 2010. The wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio for wired telecommunications activities (305.2 %) meant that it ranked as the ninth highest NACE group in 2010 within the non-financial business economy. Wage-adjusted labour productivity was somewhat lower for other telecommunications activities (218.4 %).
The EU-27’s telecommunications services subsectors also consistently recorded high gross operating rates. These peaked in 2010 at 33.3 % for wired telecommunications activities, just 1.9 percentage points above the rate that was registered for wireless telecommunications activities (31.4 %), As such, both of these subsectors were among the top 10 NACE groups in the non-financial business economy with the highest levels of profitability (using this measure). The operating profitability of the EU-27’s satellite telecommunications subsector was joint eleventh highest among the NACE groups within the non-financial business economy, at 30.0 %.
Country analysis
The United Kingdom had the largest telecommunications services sector among the EU Member States in 2010 (EUR 29.1 billion), in large part due to a 73.5 % share of the added value generated within the EU-27’s other telecommunications activities subsector. Indeed, Germany reported the highest level of value added for wired telecommunications activities (EUR 14.0 billion), while France recorded the highest level for the two remaining subsectors — EUR 12.0 billion of value added for wireless telecommunication activities and EUR 1.5 billion of value added for the relatively small activity of satellite telecommunications services.
The highest contribution made by the telecommunications services sector to the non-financial business economy in value added terms was observed in Bulgaria, where this sector contributed 5.7 % of total added value in 2010. This reflected a general pattern of relatively high shares across many of the Member States that joined the EU in 2004 or 2007, as the next highest shares were recorded in Cyprus, Romania, Latvia, Estonia and Hungary, where the telecommunications services sector provided at least 4.0 % of non-financial business economy value added in 2010; this was also true for Portugal among the EU-15 Member States and for Croatia and Turkey (data are for 2009) among the non-member countries.
The highest apparent labour productivity ratios for the telecommunications services sector in 2010 were recorded for the Netherlands (EUR 264.7 thousand per person employed) and Spain (EUR 250.1 thousand per person employed), while Italy, Portugal and Belgium also reported productivity ratios of more than EUR 200.0 thousand per person employed; as did Norway and Switzerland among the non-member countries. In Portugal, the apparent labour productivity of the telecommunications sector was 9.1 times as high as the national non-financial business economy average, at EUR 218.5 thousand per person employed. In Spain the same ratio showed that productivity within the telecommunications services sector was 6.3 times as high as the Spanish non-financial business economy average, while productivity was at least double the non-financial business economy in each of the remaining EU Member States for which data are available.
The wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio of the telecommunications services sector peaked in 2010 in Bulgaria at 531.1 %, followed by the Netherlands (445.5 %), while Portugal, the Czech Republic and Poland each reported ratios of more than 400 %; as did Croatia among the non-member countries. These values were considerably higher than the respective national averages recorded for the whole of the non-financial business economy. Indeed, in Spain, Italy and Portugal, the wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio of the telecommunications services sector was 3.0 times as high as the non-financial business economy average. In Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Slovenia the wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio in the telecommunications services sector was the second highest in 2010 among any of the NACE divisions within the non-financial business economy, while the telecommunications services sector recorded the third highest wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio in Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania or Slovakia. The lowest wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio for the telecommunications services sector was recorded in Cyprus (226.2 %), where the ratio was nevertheless 45 % higher than the non-financial business economy average.
A similar pattern was observed for the gross operating rate, as comparatively high profitability rates were consistently recorded across all of the EU Member States for which data are available. These peaked in 2010 at 47.8 % for the Portuguese telecommunications services sector, followed by 41.6 % in Bulgaria. These values marked the highest gross operating rate within the Portuguese non-financial business economy (at the NACE division level), and the second highest rate in the Bulgarian non-financial business economy. The lowest gross operating ratio in this sector was recorded in the United Kingdom (23.6 %), although this figure was almost twice as high as the non-financial business economy average in the United Kingdom (13.2 %).
Size class analysis
The relative importance of large enterprises (employing 250 or more persons) within the EU-27’s telecommunications services sector in 2010 was considerable. There were 304 large enterprises with telecommunications services as their principal activity and together they employed 80.3 % of the sectoral workforce. The relative weight of large enterprises was even greater in relation to value added (91.2 % of the sectoral total), although the latest information available relates to 2009. Large enterprises also recorded the highest level of apparent labour productivity within the telecommunications services sector, at EUR 183.2 thousand of value added per person employed.
Large enterprises accounted for between 70 % and 85 % of the telecommunications services workforce in 2010 in the majority of the EU Member States for which data are available. The highest shares were recorded in France, Italy and Austria, where 87.5 %, 87.2 % and 86.6 % of the sectoral workforce was employed by a large enterprise. By contrast, the lowest share was recorded in Latvia, the only EU Member State to report that less than half (49.2 %) of its telecommunications services workforce was employed by large enterprises; Lithuania and Bulgaria reported shares that were between 50 % and 70 %, which was also the case in Norway (57.3 %).
Large enterprises within the telecommunications services sector in 2010 accounted for between 85 % and 95 % of sectoral value added in the majority of the EU Member States for which data are available. This share rose to highs of 95.8 % in Italy and 95.2 % in France, while large enterprises accounted for a lower proportion of sectoral value added in Austria (83.1 %) and Lithuania (71.2 %).
Data sources and availability
The analysis presented in this article is based on the main dataset for structural business statistics (SBS) and size class data, all of which are published annually.
The main series provides information for each EU Member State as well as a number of non-member countries at a detailed level according to the activity classification NACE. Data are available for a wide range of variables.
In structural business statistics, size classes are generally defined by the number of persons employed. A limited set of the standard structural business statistics variables (for example, the number of enterprises, turnover, persons employed and value added) are analysed by size class, mostly down to the three-digit (group) level of NACE. The main size classes used in this article for presenting the results are:
- small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): with 1 to 249 persons employed, further divided into;
- micro enterprises: with less than 10 persons employed;
- small enterprises: with 10 to 49 persons employed;
- medium-sized enterprises: with 50 to 249 persons employed;
- large enterprises: with 250 or more persons employed.
Context
This article presents an overview of statistics for the telecommunications services sector in the EU, as covered by NACE Rev. 2 Division 61. This division includes the activities of providing telecommunications and related service activities, such as transmitting voice, data, text, sound and video. The transmission facilities that carry out these activities may be based on a single technology or a combination of technologies. The commonality of activities classified in this division is the transmission of content, without being involved in its creation. The breakdown in this division is based on the type of infrastructure that is being operated. In the case of the transmission of television signals this may include the bundling of complete programming channels (produced by units classified to Division 60, programming and broadcasting activities) in to programme packages for distribution.
Wired, wireless and satellite telecommunications activities include operating and maintaining switching and transmission facilities to provide communications; these activities also include the provision of internet access. For wired technology, telecommunications are provided point to point via landlines, microwave, or a combination of landlines and satellite linkups; wired telecommunications includes the operation of cable distribution systems (for example, the distribution of data and television signals), as well as furnishing telegraph and other non-vocal communications using own facilities. For wireless telecommunications omni-directional transmission via airwaves is provided and these services may be based on a single technology or a combination of technologies. Activities of maintaining and operating paging as well as cellular and other wireless telecommunications networks are also included. Satellite telecommunications activities use satellite infrastructure: this includes the delivery of visual, aural or textual programming received from television channels, television stations and networks, or radio networks to consumers via direct-to-home satellite systems.
Other telecommunications activities include the provision of specialised telecommunications applications, such as satellite tracking, communications telemetry, and radar station operations, as well as the operation of satellite terminal stations and associated facilities operationally connected with one or more terrestrial communications systems and capable of transmitting telecommunications to or receiving telecommunications from satellite systems. The provision of internet access over networks between the client and the ISP not owned or controlled by the ISP, such as dial-up internet access are included, as well as the provision of telephone and internet access in facilities open to the public, voice over internet protocol provision and telecommunications resellers (in other words, purchasing and reselling network capacity without providing additional services).
This NACE division is composed of four groups:
- wired telecommunications activities (Group 61.1);
- wireless telecommunications activities (Group 61.2);
- satellite telecommunications activities (Group 61.3);
- other telecommunications activities (Group 61.9).
Further Eurostat information
Publications
- European business - facts and figures (online publication)
- Key figures on European Business – with a special feature section on SMEs – 2011 edition
Main tables
Database
- SBS – services (sbs_serv)
- Annual detailed enterprise statistics - services (sbs_na_serv)
- Annual detailed enterprise statistics for services (NACE Rev.2 H-N and S95) (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
- Preliminary results on services, main indicators (NACE Rev.2) (sbs_sc_r2preli)
- SMEs - Annual enterprise statistics broken down by size classes - services (sbs_sc_sc)
- Services broken down by employment size classes (NACE Rev.2 H-N and S95) (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)
- Annual detailed enterprise statistics - services (sbs_na_serv)
- SBS - regional data - all activities (sbs_r)
- SBS data by NUTS 2 regions and NACE Rev.2, from 2008 onwards (sbs_r_nuts06_r2)
Dedicated section
Source data for tables and figures (MS Excel)
Other information
- Decision 1578/2007/EC of 11 December 2007 on the Community Statistical Programme 2008 to 2012
- Regulation 295/2008 of 11 March 2008 concerning structural business statistics