14.01.2021

 

“A new campaign for verifying mobile voice signal coverage has been completed, and we are glad to find that the coverage with mobile telephony services at the population level is significantly higher. Despite the difficult context that marked the past year, as the use of electronic communications services intensified, operators have invested heavily in networks, and the results speak for themselves. The extended coverage is also presented on the aisemnal.ro platform, which has been updated with the latest measurements and now allows viewing the year-on-year evolution. Moreover, the aisemnal.ro users can check the cumulated mobile service coverage in a certain area of ​​the country and also at the national level“, declared Cristin Popa, executive director of ANCOM.

ANCOM has recently completed the third measurements campaign for verifying the coverage with mobile voice signal in Romania, with only one mobile telephone service operator being sanctioned for failure to meet the obligations to cover 98% of Romania's population.

Coverage measurements campaign

The campaign for measuring national coverage with mobile voice signal was carried out during August – December 2020, the signal coverage of the localities was measured along the accessible roads, the boulevards and the main, as well as the secondary streets.

Throughout this campaign, ANCOM measured the signal coverage in 13,398 localities, with 10 or more inhabitants, and checked almost 250,000 de km of national, county, town or village roads. In the measurements, the Authority considered areas inhabited by 20,117,553 people out of the total number of 20,121,587 reported at the most recent census of population and housing. Voice service coverage was calculated as a ratio of the total amount of covered population to the total amount of population considered in the measurements.

“According to field measurements, Orange Romania covered with mobile voice services 98.27% of the total population, Vodafone Romania - 98.16%, RCS & RDS - 98.02%, and Telekom Romania Mobile Communications - 97.25%. In comparison to the previously assessed percentages, all operators have improved their coverage, with only one of them failing to meet the 98% threshold set by the frequency usage licenses. Thus, Telekom Mobile was sanctioned with a fine of RON 700,000. Imposing coverage obligations under the licences we award, that allow the operators to provide electronic communications services, is a legal means by which the Authority can stimulate the increase of coverage with electronic communications services“, added Cristin Popa.

A comparison between the results of the measurements performed during the campaigns for measuring national coverage with mobile voice services:

 

According to the frequency usage licences they hold, Orange, Vodafone and Telekom Mobile had the obligation to cover with voice services at least 98% of the population of Romania by means of their individual wireless networks, not later than 5 April 2017, and RCS&RDS – not later than 5 April 2019.

www.aisemnal.ro

In June 2020, the platform aisemnal.ro was upgraded to include new functionalities. Thus, the users have access to a comparative view of the mobile voice coverage levels in 2019, in 2020, and the corresponding dynamics.

The map also shows the localities where the users could incur inadvertent (involuntary) roaming charges. The Authority marked, and placed on the map, 298,674 points where the users are at risk of involuntary roaming in localities situated within 15 km from the country boundaries.

The national mobile voice coverage map – www.aisemnal.ro – is an online platform that enables users to find out the exact coverage level and the strength of 2G, 3G and 4G signal for each of the mobile operators on the Romanian market. Since October 2019, when it was launched, the aisemnal.ro map has been visited 1.73 million times.