TELESCOPE COMMS INDEX – FOURTH QUARTER 2021
It’s good to chat. Business stayed at home but got busy. Both voice and SMS volumes rose substantially, alongside average call duration.
Our Quarterly Average comparison is aimed at providing insight into key trends, as we endeavour to share insight across the UK Enterprise and B2B markets.
Bob Baker
CEO
Bob Baker is the owner and founder of Signum International Limited and acknowledged as an industry expert in the field of telecoms insights and billing
Our Quarterly Average comparison is aimed at providing insight into key trends, as we endeavour to share insight across the UK Enterprise and B2B markets.
Data Usage
UK data usage dropped, after 11 quarters of continuous growth, reflecting the offload to WiFi as Omicron UK stayed at home, including the Festive period.
Data Roaming
Average data usage per user remains an upward trend, as roaming volumes were up across all key regions, particularly Europe.
Voice
Average call duration and total talk times returned to almost peak Covid-19 levels.
Voice IDD & Roaming
It did not matter where customers were in the world, our IDD (International Direct Dial) volumes were up, with roaming volumes showing minor increases, across all regions.
SMS
When in doubt, message! SMS volumes peaked in this quarter for the year.
SIGNUM DNA
A Word About Our Data …
As we have integrated our Signum DNA into Telescope, our Self Service Analytics platform for communications insights, what better way to promote one of the UK’s largest enterprise based expense management research and analysis data warehouses.
We process in excess of 1M active subscriptions, 2.5 petabytes of data usage, 200M voice minutes and 25M SMS events per month:
- All voice volumes are reported in minutes
- All data volumes are reported in Gigabytes (Gb)
- Each SMS/MMS as a single event record
Using a 5 month average (inclusive Nov’19 to Mar’20) as our baseline, we wondered how usage had changed and what our “new normal” looks like.
Data Indices
Avg Data Usage by Active Subscriber per Zone
Calculation = Total Gb Usage divided by Total Count of Active Subscribers per Zone
Legend:
- UK = United Kingdom
- RLH = Roam Like Home (predominantly EU)
- RoW = Rest of World (All non RLH / UK countries)
Monthly Aggregate Roaming Profile by Region
Calculation = Stacked 100% of Total Gb Usage by Region
Legend:
- EU (RLH) = Roam Like Home EU
- EU = Other Europe (non RLH)
- NA = North Americas (USA & Canada)
- APAC = Asia Pacific
- RoW = Rest of World
Notes about Data Zones
- Roam Like Home (RLH EU) includes countries such as France, Germany, Greece, Netherlands and Spain
- EU includes countries such as Albania, Bosnia, Israel, Turkey and Ukraine
- North Americas includes both United States of America (USA) and Canada (CAN)
- Asia Pacific includes countries such asAustralia, China, Japan, Malaysia and New Zealand as well as South Africa (ZAR)
- Rest of World includes all countries not incorporated in previous categories
Voice Indices
Average Total Talk Time in Minutes per Active Subscriber
Calculation = Total Monthly Minutes divided by Total Active (All) Subscribers
Legend
- ITU ICT – Heavy User ( 140 Minutes) Benchmark profile
Average Call Duration by Call Type & Location
Calculation = Total Minutes divided by Total Number of Calls by Call Type
Legend
- UK Std = UK Standard Geographic & Mobile
- IDD = UK origination of International Direct Dial calls
- EU O/B = EU origination of outbound calls
- RoW B/W = Inbound and Outbound (Both Way) calls while
Monthly Aggregate Minutes Roaming Profile by Region
Calculation = Stacked 100% of Total Minutes Usage by Region
Legend
- APAC = Asia Pacific
- NA = North America (USA & Canada)
- RoW = Rest of World
- EU Other = European (Non RoamLikeHome)
- EU (RLH) = European RoamLikeHome
Monthly Aggregate IDD Minutes Profile by Region
Calculation = Stacked 100% of Total IDD Destination Minutes Usage by Region
Legend
- APAC = Asia Pacific
- ME = Middle East
- NA = North America
- RoW = Rest of World
- EU Other = European Non Roam Like Home
- EU (RLH) = European Roam Like Home
Notes about UK Voice Minutes
Voice Minutes United Kingdom
- UK landline and national are all calls starting with 01x, 02x or 03x
- UK Mobile are all calls starting 07x and including corporate VPN services
- UK NGN & Premium include all calls charged at higher out of bundle rates to non-geographic or premium destinations starting with 05x, 08x, 070x or 09x.
Notes about International and Roaming Voice
- IDD is International Dialled Destination referring to all calls originating from the mobile device in the UK to any international destination
- RLH O/B – Roam Like Home Outbound incorporates all calls originating from the mobile device while in RLH tariff countries to any international destination
- RoW I/B – Rest of World Inbound incorporates all calls received by the user when roaming in non UK or RLH countries
- RoW O/B – Rest of World Outbound incorporates all calls originating from the mobile device while roaming in non UK or RLH countries to any international destination
SMS Indices
Total Monthly SMS Volumes
Calculation = Total Monthly SMS Volumes
Monthly Aggregate Higher Rate SMS Profile by Type
Calculation = Stacked 100% of Total Higher Rate SMS Count by Type
Source = SMS 2 Non Standard Profile
Data = SMS 2 Non Std Profile
Legend
- RoW = Rest of World inbound & outbound SMS/MMS when roaming
- EU = European inbound & outbound non standard or RLH destinations, when roaming
- IDD = Outbound SMS to International Destinations originating when in UK
- UK Other = Inbound/Outbound SMS charged at non standard / out of bundle rates
Notes about SMS Profile
- Premium includes all UK non-standard or higher rated SMS or MMS event charges
- International Dialled Destination includes all SMS/MMS event charges to any international destination number originating when the device is in the UK home networks
- Roam Like Home are all SMS/MMS event charges when the device is in a designated Roam Like Home country
- Rest of World are all SMS/MMS event charges designated as roaming when not in in the UK home network or associated RLH country.