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More than 6 million fixed internet access connections in Romania

17.05.2022

In H2 2021, Romania exceeded 6 million fixed internet connections, i.e. three quarters of the households had fixed internet by the end of the year. 250,000 of the 410,000 new connections in 2021 were activated in rural areas, where fixed internet penetration reached 64% at household level, compared to 81% in urban areas, according to the statistical data report for 2021 published by ANCOM.

Here is a snapshot of the main statistical data presented in the Report:

The statistical indicators shaping the electronic communications market trends in 2021 show a 32% growth in mobile internet traffic, while fixed internet traffic increased by 16%.

Fixed Internet

  • 6.1 million fixed internet connections at end-2021 (+7% y.o.y.), of which 85% (5.2 million, i.e. +15% y.o.y.) were very high speed connections (above 100 Mbps). In rural areas, the number of very high speed connections increased by 35%;
  • Fixed internet traffic witnessed a milder growth trend, reaching almost 12 thousand PB (+16% in 2021, compared with the +51% upsurge in 2020). Thus, average monthly fixed internet traffic/inhabitant was 52 GB/month;
  • 9 out of 10 connections in urban areas and 8 out of 10 connections in rural areas enable speeds above 100 Mbps;
  • Considering the number of fixed telephony connections provided by end-2021, RCS&RDS held a market share of 63%, the Orange group 23%, and the other providers totalled 14%.

Mobile Internet

  • At the end of 2021 there were 21.2 million active mobile internet connections (+4%), 74% of these being 4G or 5G connections (15.6 million, +15% y.o.y.);
  • Mobile internet traffic reached 1.5 thousand PB, up 32% compared to 2020, and thus the average traffic reached 6.5 GB/month/inhabitant; 
  • Considering the number of fixed telephony connections provided by end-2021, the Orange Group held a market share of 43%, Vodafone 24%, while the other providers totalled 33%.  

Mobile Telephony

  • 22.9 million active SIM cards, of which 62% were subscription-based and 38% prepaid cards;
  • The number of active mobile telephony prepaid SIM cards decreased by 3% y.o.y., while the number of subscription-based SIM cards increased by 4%;
  • After an exceptional growth in 2020 (+8%), voice traffic on the mobile networks resumed its downward trend: in 2021, it dropped by 4%;
  • Average mobile telephony traffic per inhabitant amounted 4 hours and 57 minutes/ month, respectively 23 SMS/month;
  • Considering the number of SIM cards active at the end of 2021, the Orange group held a market share of 41%, Vodafone 29%, the other providers totalling 30%.

Television

  • 7.8 million TV subscriptions, due to satellite/DTH services being replaced (-17%, down to 1.5 million subscribers) by cable services (+6%, up to 6.2 million); 
  • Considering the total number of subscribers at the end of 2021, RCS&RDS held a market share of 65%, Orange group 19%, the other providers totalling 16%.

Revenues in the telecom sector

  • The revenues from the provision of electronic communications networks and services increased by 2% in 2021, exceeding 17 billion lei (3.5 billion euro), amounting to 1.45% of the GDP;
  • Mobile telephony generated 36% of all the telecom revenues, (fixed and mobile) internet 33%, TV programme retransmission services 15%, other services totalling 16%;
  • On average, the monthly revenue from the telecom sector was 74 lei per inhabitant, 2 lei more than the average of 2020;
  • Considering the revenues obtained in 2021 from electronic communications networks and services, the Orange group held a market share of 40%, Vodafone 24%, RCS&RDS 22%, while the other providers totalled 14%.

Note: For the whole year 2021, the users, the traffic and the revenues of Orange group have been considered as those of Orange, Telekom fix and NextGen.

Statistical Data Report

The statistical data report on the Romanian electronic communications market in 2021 has been drawn up by ANCOM based on the statistical data reported every semester by the providers that have the obligation to submit to ANCOM the values of the indicators corresponding to the service categories pursuant to Decision no. 333/2013 and is available, in Romanian, here.