Tuesday, October 10, 2006 – The President of the National Regulatory Authority for Communications (ANRC), Mr. Dan Georgescu, participated in the conference entitled ”Metropolitan Area Networks”, declared that broadband Internet is still a growth driver of the Romanian electronic communications market. The number of connections that provide broadband Interne access services increased by 60% in the first semester of 2006, from 750,000 connections, in December 2005, to approximately 1.2 million, on June 30, 2006.
„At the end of last year, the 3.46% penetration rate of broadband Internet access, gave us reasons to state that Romania featured the highest penetration rate of such services in South-Eastern Europe, high above the average rate of the region, which was 1.6%. After six months, the penetration rate of broadband Internet access in Romania reached 5.5%. The growth rate is still one of the highest in Europe”, the ANRC President, Mr. Dan Georgescu, pointed out during the conference entitled ”Metropolitan Area Networks”.
This offer boom on the market of Internet access services is also determined by the growing number of Internet service providers, which exceeded 1100 at the end of June 2006, by 17% more than at the end of 2005.
The same growing trend is also visible on the fixed telephony market, where the number of access lines, both by means of the providers’ own networks and by means of third parties’ networks, amounted to more than 4.42 million on June 30, 2006, as compared to 4.391 million at the end of last year. The penetration rate witnessed a slight growth in this segment, from 20.3%, at the end of 2005, to approximately 20.5%, at the end of 2006.
According to the forecasts, the mobile telephony market continued the steady growth, the number of users of these services reaching approximately 14.9 million at the end of 2006, as compared to 13 million on December 31, 2005 and 10.2 million at the end of 2004. Consequently, the penetration rate of mobile telephony increased by approximately 7% to 68.8%, in June 2006.
On this occasion, Mr. Dan Georgescu underlined the fact that, on June 30, 2006, the population penetration rate of Internet access services was around 11% and one of the solutions for increasing this figure could be the development of metropolitan networks. Out of the total number of subscribers to services of audio-visual programme re-transmission, most use the traditional services provided through cable networks – 91%, the rest of 9% of the subscribers choosing new types of services (alternative services), such as satellite DTH television or IPTV television.
There were approximately 4 million subscribers to services of audio-visual programme re-transmission on June 30, 2006, whereas the household penetration rate was 55%, on the same date.
Comprehensive information on the development of the electronic communications market in Romania will be released during the international conference „European Communications in Romania”, organised by ANRC on October 17, 2006. The ANRC President’s presentation held during ”Metropolitan Area Networks” conference in available here, on the ANRC website.