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Telecom.IT : Number of active mobile phone users reaches 22.8 mln in Romania
The number of active mobile phone users in Romania reached 22.8 million in late 2012, of whom 13 million opted for prepaid cards, according to the official data made public on Thursday, May 16, during an event dedicated to the Communications Day, by Eduard Lovin, an executive with the National Communications Management and Regulatory Authority /ANCOM/.
'The trend of the mobile telephony and Internet market in Romania in 2012 shows a slight decrease in the number of mobile phone users but also an increase in SMS and MMS voice traffic. Moreover, one may remark an increase in the average duration of a call, as well as in the average number of text messages. The number of mobile broadband connections and mobile Internet connections (53% of the population) is going up. In 2012, the number of active mobile phone users decreased by 2.5% compared to 2011, but the trend in the second half of last year shows a positive tendency again, a quarterly increase of 0.6% respectively. At end-2012, in Romania there were 22.8 million active mobile users, of whom 13 million opted for prepaid cards and 9 million chose subscriptions,' Lovin said.
According to the cited data, the penetration rate of mobile telephony per 100 inhabitants had reached 120%, in year-on-year decrease of three percentage points, whilst voice traffic declined by 7%, having exceeded the threshold of 70 billion minutes, equivalent to 26 billion calls.
Also, the SMS and MMS traffic increased last year, but the video call traffic decreased.
'Prepaid card users are the ones making most of the voice traffic, 36 billion minutes respectively, i.e. 56% of the total. Furthermore, the average duration of a phone call made by prepaid card users is higher than that of subscription-based mobile phone users - 2 minutes and 22 seconds. Roaming voice traffic saw an annual growth of 11%. Related to the six telecom service providers on the market, there were 10 million active mobile Internet connections, of which 7 million broadband ones,' the ANCOM official underscored.