Falling revenue
Dips in revenue can partially be attributed to the lower prices companies are charging in certain segments of the market. The overall level of average revenue per user (ARPU) has decreased for both pre-paid and post-paid mobile consumers in recent years, a phenomenon that is evident among providers such as Vodafone and Telefónica.Changing nature of communications
Mobile has slowly replaced fixed-line voice communication as the preferred method of making voice calls in the UK. Mobile voice call minutes exceeded fixed line minutes for the first time in 2010, and since then the gap has increased. In 2020, inhabitants of the UK made 189.66 billion minutes worth of calls over mobile networks, compared to 44.96 billion minutes over fixed networks.
The social effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic are apparent in the number of call minutes, as people replaced face-to-face contact with phone calls. Following years of decline, the total number of minutes spent on phone calls increased by approximately 34 billion minutes reaching total of 234.62 billion minutes. This is the highest level seen since 2012.
The humble SMS message has also fallen out of favor, likely a victim of the popularity of free messaging apps such as Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger.. The number of outgoing SMS and MMS messages sent in the UK fell from 150.83 billion messages in 2012, to just 48.68 billion messages in 2020.
