“The preliminary statistical data on the evolution of the 2008 Romanian electronic communications market show that this market reached its maturity. We have the highest fixed telephony penetration rate of all times, a significant growth pace of the number of mobile telephony users and an important growth of the number of Internet connections”, Catalin Marinescu, the President of ANCOM, stated.
For the first time in the last years, the fixed telephony knew an important growth as regards the number of access lines, which increased by 18.3% as compared to last year. It is worth mentioning that the number of lines allotted to legal persons grew by 81.8%. Thus, as of 31 December 2008, there were 5.04 million access lines in Romania, the value of the fixed telephony penetration rate, per population, reaching 23.4%, whereas its value per households reached 53.6%. These percentage values are actually the highest this indicator has ever reached.
The majority of the fixed telephone lines installed by the 32 alternative providers having their own network (69%) belong to users-natural persons. However, in 2008, the number of lines installed to legal persons grew much more than the number of lines installed to natural persons (+341% compared to +30%). The alternative providers’ market share, computed in relation to the number of installed access lines, reached 40%, with more than 2 million installed lines. The number of alternative providers offering call services reached 49 at end-2008, a decrease as compared to end-2007, mainly due to the large number of acquisitions and mergers concluded during 2008.
The mobile telephony penetration rate, calculated based on the “valid” SIM cards (SIM cards valid at the end of a certain reporting period), increased in 2008 by approximately 20.7 percentage points, reaching 133%. At the end of 2008, the number of “valid” SIM cards exceeded the value of 28.6 million. Computed in relation to the 24.5 million “active” prepaid SIM cards (subscriptions and prepaid cards, valid at the end of the reporting period, which enabled the chargeable traffic), the penetration rate was of approximately 114%, as of 31 December 2008.
“As regards mobile telephony, the second semester of 2008 follows the same trend firstly registered in the 1st semester of 2008 – an accelerated increase of the number of subscriptions compared to the number of prepaid cards. Data show that the number of users with a monthly subscription increased by 30% compared to the 13% and, respectively, 14% increases of the number of valid and, respectively, active prepaid cards. Out of the 9.7 million users with a monthly subscription existing as of 31 December 2008, more than 70% were natural persons (6.8 million), whereas the 2.9 million natural persons counted for less than 30%”, the President of ANCOM added.
The total number of broadband Internet access connections provided at fixed locations reached 2.51 million as of 31 December 2008, the penetration rate registering the value of approximately 11.7%. Within the broadband connections, xDSL connections show a permanent growing trend from one period to another, holding more than 26% quota in the total number of fixed broadband connections, at end-2008, compared to the 19% quota in 2007. The share of the broadband Internet access connections on cable support (coaxial cable and UTP/FTP) decreased by 6% (from 75% at end-2007 to 69% at end-2008). “As regards the Internet access of the residential users, at end-2008, approximately one of three households benefited from broadband Internet access services, the penetration rate, per household, reaching 30.4%”, Catalin Marinescu, the President of ANCOM, stated.
Due to the further deployment of the 3G networks, which enabled the mobile telephony providers to introduce new offers, the number of active mobile Internet access connections reached 2.7 million, within which the EDGE/CDMA/EV-DO/3G mobile broadband Internet access connections almost doubled compared to 2007.
The statistical data report, which is to include information on the fixed and mobile telephony traffic, evolutions registered in the segment of audio-visual programme retransmission services, as well as financial data, will be soon finalised and published by ANCOM.