The National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications has published today, on its website, the half-yearly statistical data report on the Romanian electronic communications market in the first half of 2009. According to the report, the segment of fixed and mobile broadband users and that of the voice traffic on the mobile telephone networks grew compared to the same period of 2008.
The statistical data for the first six months of 2009 reveal that fixed telephony continued the upward trend on several segments. Thus, the total number of access lines for fixed telephone services registered a slight growth, i.e. from 5.17 million such access lines at the end of 2008 and 4.55 million as of 30 June 2008 to 5.19 million at the end of June this year, while the total number of subscribers who use such lines has decreased – from 4.12 million, as of 31 December 2008, to 4.07 million, as of 30 June 2009. The fixed telephony penetration rate reached a historic maximum of 24.1% (3 percentage points more compared to the same period of 2008) at the population level and 53.7% at the household level (2.2 percentage points more compared to the same period of 2008).
Within the total number of lines installed, the shares of customer categories changed in comparison with the first half of 2008. Thus, the number of lines allotted to business customers increased (from 780,000 at the end of June 2008 to 1.26 million in the first half of 2009), mostly due to the emphasis of the mobile telephony providers on developing the segment of business fixed telephony.
The total voice traffic over the fixed and mobile telephone networks in the first half of 2009 registered 23.5 billion minutes, increasing by 22% compared to the first semester of 2008. Whereas the voice traffic achieved over the fixed public telephone networks dropped by 15%, i.e. from 4.6 billion minutes in the first semester of 2008 to 3.9 billion minutes in this year’s first half, the voice traffic originated (excluding roaming) by the end-users on the mobile public telephone networks from Romania increased by approximately 34% compared to the same period of 2008, thus registering more than 19.5 billion minutes in the first semester of 2009.
Furthermore, the monthly average voice traffic (including outbound roaming) originated on an active SIM card was 2 hours and 13 minutes, while the average length of a call originated on the mobile public networks was 2’01’’ (2 minutes and 1 second), thus registering a year-on-year increase (from 1’54’’). As well, in the first half of 2009, the Romanians sent 3.5 billion SMS, i.e. almost double compared to the same period of the previous year (+96%).
Although the number of “active” prepaid SIM cards (which registered traffic in the respective period) decreased by 0.4% compared to 31 December 2008, the number of subscription-based SIM cards grew slightly, i.e. +0.1%, thus rising their share within the total active SIM cards (almost 40% of the active SIM cards are subscription-based cards). Out of the 9.66 million users with a monthly subscription, 70% are residential users.
“From consumption side and in the context of the decreases registered in the other economic sectors, the evolution of the electronic communications market in the first half of 2009 is comforting: the communications market proved to be stable and strong, showing significant increases as regards the traffic of voice over the mobile telephone networks, and, also, stagnations or slight growth rates as regards the number of telephony users. The most prominent segments continue to be the fixed and mobile broadband Internet and we expect them to rise further in the second half of the year”, Catalin Marinescu, the President of ANCOM, explained.
The fixed broadband Internet segment increased by almost 6% compared to 31 December 2008, the total number of connections reaching 2.65 million, whereas the penetration rate grew up to 12.3% at population level, respectively 32.1% at household level. The UTP/FTP cable connections and the xDSL connections continue to hold the most important share within the fixed broadband connections, with 51% and, respectively, 28% by mid-2009. As well, the number of active mobile broadband connections rose significantly, by 59%, reaching the value of 2.4 million compared to the 1.5 million value registered at end-2008. The number of Wi-Fi hotspot locations is also increasing, i.e. approximately 1,000 locations by mid-2009.
The statistical data report was drawn up based on the data reported by the authorised providers of electronic communications networks or services, active between 1 January – 30 June 2009, and is available for consultation here.