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ANCOM: 4G Connections Doubled in 2016

23.05.2017
 
 
According to the most recent ANCOM statistical data report on the Romanian electronic communications market, the number of mobile internet connections achieved through 4G networks grew by 113% in 2016, standing for approximately 35% of the total broadband mobile internet connections. Furthermore, the mobile internet consumption per connection knew an upsurge compared to 2015, as the average monthly traffic rose from 0.41 GB to 0.73 GB. Infographic here.
 
Mobile internet
The data processed by the Authority showed that, in Romania, the total number of broadband mobile internet connections reached 16.6 million at end-2016, up by 13.5% from the previous year, while the mobile internet penetration rate per population reached 84.2%, by over 10 percentage points more than in the previous year.  
The popularity of subscription-based broadband mobile internet connections keeps rising: these hold more than 63% within the total connections (respectively 10.6 million), an approximately 18% y.o.y. growth. Prepaid card-based connections registered a 7% increase, to over 6 million.
The total traffic of broadband mobile internet connections almost doubled in 2016, from 85 thousand TB in 2015 to 169 thousand TB in 2016. As well, the average monthly traffic per connection in 2016 grew by 77% as compared to 2015, from 0.41 GB to 0.73 GB.
The use of 4G services continues the upward trend of the last years, in terms of both number of users and traffic. The number of 4G connections reached 5.8 million (from 2.7 million twelve months ago), thus representing more than a third of the total broadband mobile internet connections. The residential subscription-based users are up by 1.7 million compared to the previous year, whereas the 4G connections of business subscription-based users rose by approx. 360 thousand.
 
Fixed internet
According to the ANCOM statistics, the number of broadband fixed internet connections in Romania reached 4.4 million at end-2016, a 4.4% y.o.y. growth. The users of these connections achieved a total traffic of 5.4 million TB, whereas the average monthly consumption per connection reached 103 GB. 
Out of these, more than half (55%) are connections allowing best-effort speeds of at least 100Mbps, 34% allow best-effort speeds between 10Mbps and 100Mbps and only 11% are connections with 10Mbps speeds or below.
 
Internet in urban vs. rural area
The number of fixed internet connections installed in rural area grew by 6% as compared to the end of the previous year, up to 1.2 million, while in urban area the number of connections increased slightly by 4%, to 3.2 million.  
As regards the distribution of the provided speeds on residence area, most of the connections allowing high transfer speeds, of at least 100 Mbps, are registered in urban area: only 0.2 million of the 2.4 million of such connections are in rural area. The penetration rate of fixed internet access connections achieved by the residential users, at household level, reached 53.7% countrywide, respectively 67.5% in the urban area and 35.8% in the rural area.
 
Fixed internet infrastructure
The data processed by the Authority also show that the broadband fixed internet infrastructure, enabling internet connection at high transfer speed rates in Romania, is dominated by cable connections, due to investments in DOCSIS.3 and in fibre optic technologies (more than 75% of the fixed internet connections reach the end-user on FTTH, coaxial cable or UTP/FTP cable support). The xDSL connections held 20% share within the total broadband fixed internet connections at end-2016, sinking by 3 percentage points y.o.y.
It is also worth noting an important rise, by more than 40% as compared to 2015, registered by the connections at fixed locations provided by means of mobile technologies, which represent an increasingly used alternative in areas not covered by internet fixed networks.
 
Statistical data report
ANCOM draws up the statistical data report on the Romanian electronic communications market in 2016 based on the statistical data reported – on a half-yearly basis – by the providers under the obligation to send to ANCOM the values of the indicators corresponding to the service categories according to Decision no. 333/2013 and will be soon available on www.ancom.org.ro.