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Growing number of voice minutes in the Romanian mobile telephone networks
12.05.2015
According to statistical data report for 2014, published today by ANCOM, the mobile telephony users in Romania achieved, last year, 67 billion voice minutes - by 5.3% more compared to 2013. Thus, in 2014, the users talked by 40% more towards other mobile networks, while roaming voice consumption increased by 53%. Instead, the voice traffic achieved by fixed telephony users decreased by 10.6% less than in 2013, down to 4.5 billion minutes.
ANCOM data show that the traffic initiated on the mobile telephone networks grew in almost all the call segments– of which: traffic to international networks (+76%) and, respectively, off-net mobile traffic (+40%). One of theimportant factors for the off-net mobile traffic growth is represented by the attractive offers on the retail market, as a result of ANCOM’s intervention on the wholesale market, by regulating the maximum value of mobile call termination since 1 April 2014. Mobile-to-fixed traffic increased by 3%, whereas on-net traffic slightly decreased, by 0.4%. Approximately 19.5 billion text messages were sent in 2014, by 15% more than 2013, 90% of these being on-net.
The total number of active users of mobile telephony services reached 22.9 million, approximately similarly to end-2013. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that the number of mobile telephony subscribers increased by 4.9% (up to 9.8 million), while active prepaid card users decreased by 3.4% (up to 13.1 million). The mobile penetration rate per 100 habitants reached 114.9% by end-2014.
In 2014, the average mobile call duration increased to 2 minutes and 26 seconds, whereas the average voice traffic achieved by an active user was 4 hours and 6 minutes per month, by 13 minutes more than in 2013. On average, a user sent 72 SMS per month, by 10 more than the monthly average of 2013.
Concerning roaming services, in the context of entering a new stage of lowering the regulated tariffs for roaming calls within the EU starting 1 July 2014, voice traffic witnessed an annual growth by 53%, up to 647 million minutes (of which, 196 million - outgoing and 451 million - incoming), whereas the traffic of outgoing roaming SMS grew by 10% year-on-year, up to 123 million messages. The average duration of an outgoing roaming call was 2 minute and 24 seconds, while that of an incoming roaming call was 3 minutes and 16 seconds. The consumption of roaming data services rose significantly, approximately 6 times, from 34 thousand GB in 2013 to 202 thousand GB in 2014.
In the fixed telephony segment, we witness a constant decrease. During 2014, a downward evolution was registered both in the total number of access lines (-3%, up to 4.57 million), and in the total number of subscribers (-2%, up to 3.96 million), as well as and in the traffic achieved by these subscribers. As of 31 December 2014, the fixed telephony penetration rate per 100 inhabitants dropped to 22.9%, whereas the fixed telephony penetration rate per 100 households was 49.9%.
The voice traffic achieved through the fixed public networks reached 4.53 billion minutes in 2014, an annual decrease of 10.6%. The only segment which registered growth was the international traffic (+4%, up to 323 million minutes), while fixed-to-fixed traffic decreased by 13.5% (down to 3 billion minutes) and fixed-to-mobile traffic, respectively by 6.3% (down to 1.2 billion minutes).
In 2014, the average monthly traffic originated from an access line was 1 hour and 22 minutes, 8 minutes less than in 2013, the average call duration being 3 minutes and 14 seconds.
The consolidated Statistical Data Report on the Romanian Electronic Communications Market at 2014 has been elaborated based on the data reported by the active providers of electronic communications services that conducted commercial activities during 1 January – 31 December 2014, and is available, in Romanian, here. ANCOM infographics on the evolution of the telephony, internet and broadcasting segments are available here.
