19.12.2023

The number of 5G mobile internet connections doubled in the first half of this year, to over 1.5 million. Fixed Gigabit interned connections kept growing, by 10%. The 1.9 million such connections account for almost 30% of the total number, according to the statistical data report for the first half of 2023. Infographic here.

ANCOM’s report on the telecom market in H1 2023 is available, in Romanian, here. The main developments are presented below:

Fixed internet

• The total number of connections reached 6.5 million (+2%), more than 91% allowing speeds exceeding 100 Mbps
• 29% of connections (1.9 million connections, up +10%) allow speeds of at least 1 Gbps, while connections enabling less than 100 Mbps keep dwindling
• The average monthly traffic reached 80 GB per inhabitant (+11%), i.e., 2.7 GB/day
• At national level, the penetration rate per 100 households reached 79% (84% in urban areas and 71% in rural areas), while the growth rate of the number of connections in rural areas (+3%) continues to exceed that in urban areas (+1%) 
• By number of connections, the top 3 providers were: RCS&RDS (69%), Orange group (18%) and Vodafone (11%)

Mobile Internet

• The total number of active connections (21.3 million) remained almost constant (+1%), while 75% of these enable 4G and/or 5G (15.9 million)
• The number of 5G connections doubled in the first half of the year, exceeding 1.5 million
• Almost 20 million connections ensure internet access together with mobile telephony, the rest being dedicated to mobile internet via modem / card / USB
• The average monthly traffic was 9.2 GB per inhabitant (+4%), i.e., approximately 300 MB/day
• By number of active connections, the top 3 providers were: Orange group (38%), RCS&RDS (26%) and Vodafone (24%)

Mobile telephony

• 23,4 million mobile telephony active SIM cards, of which: 66% subscriptioni-based and 34% prepaid card-based
• The popularity of prepaid cards is on a downward trend: the number of subscription-based SIM cards increased by 3%, while the number of active prepaid SIM cards decreased by 7%
• Total voice traffic dropped by 3%, to 30.5 billion minutes, while the average traffic per inhabitant was 4 hours and 27 minutes/month, and 16 SMS/month
• By number of active SIM cards at mid-year, Orange Group held a market share of 36%, Vodafone 28% and RCS&RDS 23%

Television

• The number of subscribers to TV services is constant: 7.8 million
• The trend in the users’ preference to switch to cable retransmission (+2% to 6.7 million subscribers) over satellite/DTH services (-14% to a total of 1 million) continues
• By total number of subscribers, RCS&RDS held a market share of 71%, Orange Group 15%, and Vodafone 10%

Telecom sector revenue

• Telecom revenues decreased by 2.3% in the first half of 2023, exceeding RON 8.3 billion (EUR 1.7 billion). Growth in the revenues from fixed and mobile internet was not sufficient to offset declines in revenues from wholesale mobile telephony
• Internet (fixed and mobile) generated 37% of total revenues, mobile telephony 30%, TV retransmission 15%, fixed telephony 9%, and other types of networks/services 9%
• By revenues from electronic communications, the top 3 providers were: Orange Group (39%), RCS&RDS (25%) and Vodafone (24%))

Statistical data report

The statistical data report on the electronic communications market in Romania for H1 2023 is prepared by ANCOM based on the statistical data reported half-yearly by the providers that have the obligation to transmit to ANCOM the values of the indicators corresponding to the categories of services according to Decision no. 333/2013 and is available, in Romanian, here.