4.05.2018

”The users in Romania enjoy advanced mobile internet access technologies and good coverage, in a competitive market with low prices, which is reflected in the growing mobile internet consumption. On average, a mobile internet user consumed more than 1.4 GB/month during 2017, almost double compared to the previous year. This evolution is clearly due to the growing use of 4G networks. I am also glad that Romanian users have greatly benefited from the entry into force of the EU Roam Like At Home regulation, with voice and data roaming registering spectacular growth. Internet traffic grew 6 times, while roaming calls tripled”, declared Sorin Grindeanu, president of ANCOM.

Mobile internet dynamics

End-2017 data processed by the Authority show that 38% of the total number of mobile internet connections are 4G, while 42% of them are 3G connections, i.e. 80% of the 20.3 million mobile internet connections enable high transfer rates. Thus, the penetration rate per 100 inhabitants of mobile internet provided through 3G and 4G connections was 83%. 

Most mobile internet connections (17.3 million – 85%) are used over a mobile telephone, upon payment of a subscription or of a dedicated internet option, these users having consumed 1.36 GB/month (+106%) on average in 2017. Users of mobile internet provided through a modem/card/USB consumed, on average, 2.5 GB/month (+43%), but their number keeps a declining trend, down to 1.9 million.

Based on the number of mobile internet connections active on 31 December 2017, the market leader held a market share of 42%, the second largest provider 23%, and the next 18%, the rest of the providers totalling 17% market share. 

Mobile telephony dynamics

At the end of 2017, there were 22.4 million active mobile telephony users (-2%), of which 12.1 million (+5%) subscription-based and 10.3 million (-9%) active prepaid card-based users. Based on the number of active SIM cards, as of end-2017, the market leader held a market share of 40%, the second largest provider 30%, and the next 17%, the rest of the providers totalling 13%.

Throughout 2017, a total traffic of almost 69 billion voice minutes was achieved on the mobile telephony segment, 3% less compared to 2016, while the number of SMS reached almost 16 billion minutes (-14%). Thus, a user talked on the mobile telephone, 4 hours and 14 minutes a month and sent 58 SMS messages, on average, in 2017.

Off-net mobile traffic kept growing in 2017, up to 33% of the voice traffic and 27% of the SMS traffic, while on-net traffic continued the downward trend, reaching 58% of the voice traffic and 72% of the  SMS traffic.

Concerning the voice traffic, the market leader held a 42% share in 2017, the second largest provider 27%, the next 18%, while the rest totalled 13%.

Following the entry into force of the Roam Like At Home regulation on 15 June 2017, the use of roaming services soared in 2017. The traffic of calls made amounted three times that of 2016 (from 0.5 billion minutes in 2016 to 1.5 billion in 2017), the traffic of calls received went up +81% (to 2 billion minutes), SMS traffic increased by +58%, whereas data traffic grew 6 times, up to 5,811 TB in 2017.

Statistical data report

The statistical data report on the Romanian electronic communications market for the year 2017 is carried out by ANCOM on the basis of the statistical data reported half-yearly by the providers under the obligation to send to ANCOM the values of the indicators corresponding to the categories of services according to Decision no. 333/2013 and will be available soon on www.ancom.org.ro.