“The broadband penetration rate at population level might reach 10% in 2007, considering the conditions of the present developments of the broadband services and the rapid expansion of the neighbourhood networks”, Mr. Dan Cristian Georgescu, President of the National Regulatory Authority for Communications, declared today during the IT & Telecom Conference 2006.
As a result of ANRC’s efforts dedicated to stimulating and raising the awareness of this sector, the neighbourhood networks providers who decided to gain a legal status have succeeded in rapidly building successful businesses, that currently attract purchase offers with significant values, the President of ANRC stated.
Over 1.1 million broadband Internet connections have been reported by the end of June 2006, resulting in an approximately 60% increase over 6 months only. On the same date, the penetration rate of broadband Internet access services in Romania has reached 5,5%, its growth pace still remaining among the fastest in Europe.
From the 800,000 dedicated Internet access connections available by June 30, 2006, around 360,000 represented UTP/FTP connections (mainly used as a support by the neighbourhood networks providers). We estimate that, by mid-2006, the number of connections related to neighbourhood networks was of approximately 280,000.