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ANCOM: Romania Exceeded 5 Million Fixed Internet Lines, with 2 Million Fibre-to-the-Home

13.05.2019

“The citizens and business environment in Romania need more and better internet: we exceeded 5 million fixed internet lines, 2 million of which are fibre-to-the-home. In the mobile internet area, the 4G connections account for more than a half within the total lines, and the average mobile internet traffic continued to double for the second year in a row”, Mr. Sorin Grindeanu, the president of ANCOM, saidInfographs here.

Mobile internet
The data processed by ANCOM for 2018 show that the number of 4G connections amounted to 10.1 million, y.o.y. growth by 27%, and thus came to hold a majority share of 51% within the total mobile internet connections. Alongside the 3G connections, in Romania there were 17.2 million high-speed mobile internet connections at the end of last year, which means about 90% of all the 19.9 million mobile internet connections.
2018 was the second consecutive year when the average mobile internet traffic doubled, reaching thus 2.6 GB/month/inhabitant.
Based on the number of active mobile internet connections in 2018, the market leader held a 40% market share, the main competitor 25%, and the other providers summed up 35%. 
 
Fixed internet
According to the ANCOM statistics, the number of fixed internet connections exceeded 5 million (i.e. 5.1 million) at end-2018, up by 7% compared to the previous year, due to both the strong growth, by 16%, of the high-speed fixed internet connections of at least 100Mbps and the dropping of those ensuring speeds below 100 Mbps.
Thus, the share of the very high-speed connections (at least 100Mbps) was 69% at the end of 2018.
The traffic registered through fixed internet in 2018 amounted to 25 GB/month/inhabitant, up by 15% from the previous year.
Last year, the fixed internet penetration rate per 100 households was 62% at national level, 74% in the urban area and 46% in the rural area.
The gap between urban and rural keeps narrowing. The number of fixed internet connections in rural area reached 1.6 million, 13% y.o.y. growth in 2018, whereas the connections installed in the urban area grew by 4% to 3.5 million. 40% of the internet connections in rural area allowed for speeds above 100 Mbps.
Based on the number of fixed internet connections registered at end-2018, the market leader held a 51% market share, the main competitor 23%, the other providers summing up 26%. 
 
Statistical data report
The statistical data report on the Romanian electronic communications market in 2018 is drawn up by ANCOM based on the statistical data reported every semester by the providers that have the obligation to send ANCOM the values of the indicators corresponding to the service categories pursuant to Decision no. 333/2013 and will be available soon on www.ancom.org.ro.