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Telecom.IT: Broadband contribution to GDP - 3.5 billion euro may reach 8 billion euro in 2018
The contribution of broadband to Romania’s GDP is estimated at 3.5 billion euro and may reach 6 billion euro by 2018 while maintaining the present broadband adoption rate and to 8 billion euro by accelerating the present rate, according to a study presented on last Tuesday.
The study “Broadband in Romania. Users, tendencies and economic impact” was presented on Tuesday at the conference “Mediafax talks about the value of broadband” by Alina Florean, a Roland Berger consultant.Romania is one of the countries with the highest Internet speeds, but ranks last for the broadband penetration degree, the study shows.
There were 3.8 million broadband connections in Romania at the end of 2013, with an annual 8% increase from 300,000 connections in 2005. According to estimates there will be 4.5 million broadband connections in 2018.On the other hand, the broadband penetration rate among individual consumers was 56% in 2013, under the European average of 76%. This places Romania 26th among 28 EU member states, before Greece and Bulgaria, which had 55% and 54%.
In case of companies the penetration rate is 63%, under the EU average of 90%, the difference coming from the level of small and medium size companies, Florean showed.
The results of the study show that an increase of the broadband adoption rate of 10% adds 1.2% to the annual per capital GDP increase rate. The 1,2% was adapted to Romania taking into account the GDP structure and the use of Internet to obtain in the end an impact of 0.6-0.8% on the economic increase rate.
In Romania, the contribution of broadband to economy is estimated at 3.5 billion euro and should reach 6 billion euro while maintaining the present penetration rate. Two billion euro could be added in case Romania recovers the difference to the European penetration average by 2018.