Looking at the OPEX chart as a whole, the by far most
important thing is the magnitude of the costs. Compared with
CAPEX, the OPEX figures can be 10 or 20 times as large as
the capital expenditures. The operational expenses can be as
high as 200-300 million euros annually. The driving factor for
the high costs is seen to be the user acquisition cost. This is
because it was assumed that the cost per each new customer is
150 euros, the same as for the customers in the fixed case. But
even assuming a cost of 30-50 euros per new user, the user
acquisition costs would still dominate the OPEX. In contrast,
the equipment-related cost items are relatively insignificant.
Therefore, it is of utmost importance to the operator to
optimize its marketing efforts, as well as minimize customer
chum.