17.05.2020

“Good news from the telecom sector: by end-2019, three quarters of the 5.3 million fixed internet connections in Romania allowed very high data transfer speeds, exceeding 100 Mbps. This was alsofelt - during the state of emergency that we have just been through, when the fixed internet networks in Romania, which are mainly based on fiber-optic infrastructure, were up to the challenge and met the high traffic demand. Never in history have electronic communications networks been so heavily relied on to keep our society working, to fulfil our social, educational, economic or other needs, as in these last two months. Today, we celebrate the World Telecommunication Day, so we take this opportunity to thank those who made this breakthrough possible and congratulate them for being up to the challenges over time” declared ANCOM’s President, Sorin GRINDEANU, on the occasion of the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, celebrated every year on 17 May. Infographic available, here.

ANCOM will make available detailed statistical data on the 2019 telecom market next week.

Here is a snapshot of the main market segments presented in the Report:

Fixed internet

• 5.3 million fixed internet connections by end-2019 (+4% y.o.y.), of which 3.9 million i.e. 74% were very high-speed connections. 
• average fixed internet data traffic/inhabitant: 29 GB/month, 14% more compared to the previous year.
• the penetration rate of fixed internet per 100 households was 64% at national level in 2019, i.e. 75% in urban areas and 49% in rural areas.
• Considering the number of fixed internet connections at the end of 2019, RCS&RDS had a market share of 53%, followed by Telekom Group with a market share of 21%, the rest of the providers totalling 26%. 

Mobile internet

• 12 million 4G connections (+16% y.o.y.), i.e. 61% of the total of 19.9 million active mobile internet connections in Romania.
• average mobile internet data traffic/inhabitant: 3.7 GB/month, 41% more compared to the previous year,

·    Considering the number of mobile internet connections at the end of 2019, Orange had a market share of 39%, followed by Vodafone with a market share of 25%, the rest of the providers totalling 36%.  

Fixed and mobile telephony

• 22.7 million active mobile telephony SIM cards, of which 58% were subscription-based and 42% were prepaid cards.
• the average mobile telephony traffic per inhabitant was 4 hours and 44 minutes/month, while the average SMS traffic was 44 SMS/month; these values are on a slightly downward trend, due to the growing usage of instant messaging apps and of social networks.
• considering the number of active SIM cards at end-2019, Orange had a market share of 39%, Vodafone 30%, the rest of the providers totalling 31%. 
• Fixed telephony keeps the downward trend: 8 minutes/month is the average fixed telephony traffic per inhabitant, down 17% y.o.y.
• Considering the number of fixed telephony subscribers at end-2019, Telekom Group had a market share of 40%, RCS&RDS 35%, and the rest of the providers totalled 25%. 

Television

• 7.6 million TV subscriptions, of which 5.4 million were cable TV subscriptions.
• Considering the number of TV subscribers at end-2019, RCS&RDS had a market share of 53%, Telekom Group 17%, and the rest of the providers totalled 30%. 

Revenues in the telecom sector

• The revenues in the telecom sector increased by 3% in 2019, amounting RON 16.5 billion, i.e. EUR3.5 billion.
• The mobile telephony sector generated 39% of all the revenues in the market, the fixed and mobile internet segment 30%, TV programme retransmission 14%, and the other services 17%.
• The average monthly revenue from the telecom sector was RON 71 per inhabitant.
• Considering the revenues obtained in 2019, Orange had a market share of 26%, Vodafone Group 24%, Telekom Group 24%, and the rest of the providers totalled 26%. 

Statistical Data Report

The statistical data report on the Romanian electronic communications market in 2019 has been drawn up by ANCOM based on the statistical data reported every semester by the providers that have the obligation to submit to ANCOM the values of the indicators corresponding to the service categories pursuant to Decision no. 333/2013 and will be available next week, in Romanian, here.