Fixed broadband internet connections see 7 percent growth. Landline telephony market, revived by the private sector in 2013, according to the Romanian telecom authority

Fixed broadband internet connections counted 3.8 million at the end of last year, representing an annual growth of 7 percent, according to data from telecom watchdog ANCOM.

Of these, 3.5 million represented connections of residential users, while 340,000 represented the number of fixed broadband internet connections installed by companies.

Compared to the end of 2012, fixed broadband internet connections reached 18.8 percent penetration, representing a 1.2 percent growth, while the household penetration rate grew by 3.4 percent up to 46.2 percent.

The growth was higher in the rural environment compared to the urban environment. Thus, from a total of 3.8 million connections, approximately 1 million were installed in the rural areas, marking a 13 percent growth compared to the end of 2012.

As far as the access infrastructure used, connections via UTP/FTP cable reached nearly 2.1 million, representing a 6 percent surge compared to the end of 2012, connections via coaxial cable reached 540,000, marking 18 percent growth compared to the end of 2012, while connections via xDSL on copper support exceeded 1 million, marking a 4 percent growth.

Read more about

Easter celebration: museums dedicated to eggs decoration

read more

Approximately 97 percent of the total fixed broadband internet connections, namely 3.7 million, were provided via technologies that involve fiber optic up to a location close to the final user (94 percent) or even to the user’s home (3 percent), which makes it possible to offer data transfer speeds over 30 Mbps.

The fixed telephony market saw a slight revival, with the number of lines posting a 2 percent annual growth up to a total of 4.7 million. This growth was due to the 9 percent growth in the number of new lines installed by companies.

At the end of last year, there were 4.04 million subscribers of landline telephony, which remained relatively constant compared to the end of 2012. The penetration of landline telephony was 51 percent at the end of 2013.

The traffic made by final users via fixed public networks continued to decline in 2013, reaching approximately 5.1 billion minutes, representing a 7 percent down-slide.

Last year, Romanians spoke on the fixed phone on average one and a half hours a month, about 7 minutes less compared to 2012. The average length of a call was 3 minutes and 14 seconds.
In picture: Catalin Marinescu, president of ANCOM

Otilia Haraga