The statistical indicators on the Romanian telecom sector’s performance in 2012 show that the market stabilised in comparison to the first years of crisis and that there is enough room for growth particularly on the internet segment, despite the challenging market environment.

The reduction of interconnection fees for mobile telephony, alongside the price war amid tightening competition ate into the revenues of the telecom operators. The largest mobile players reported revenue decline of 1-5% year on year in 2012 (in EUR terms). No official data was released on telecom service revenues in 2012, yet given the major players’ financial results last year and the performance of the sector in H1 (up by 3.5% year on year in local currency, minus 1.4% year on year in EUR terms), it is likely that the telecom market shrank moderately year on year in 2012.

Mobile and fixed telephony recorded annual decline in the number of users in 2012. However, for mobile telephony the customer base recovered slightly in H2. Mobile voice and message traffic continued to increase last year, while on the fixed telephony segment both traffic and number of users maintained on downward path.

The internet services segment kept accelerated expansion pace in 2012. The number of mobile broadband connections surged by 67.8% year on year to 7.1mn in 2012, backed by the 85.6% year on year rise of prepaid card connections, while the fixed broadband internet connections advanced by 7.9% year on year.

The segment has enough room for further growth, as despite the strong growth in the recent years, internet usage in Romania remains below the EU average. Approximately 48% of the population has never used internet services, vs 22% EU average, while the rate of regular internet use (at least once per week) neared 43% of the population in 2012, much below the 70% European average.