In 2022, according to the statistical data collected by ANCOM, the number of fixed internet connections in Romania reached 6.4 million in end of 2022, growing by 4% annually.
At the national level, the penetration rate per 100 households reached 77% (83% in the urban environment and 69% in the rural environment), while the growth rate of the number of connections in the rural environment (+7%) exceeds the the urban one (+3%).
Of all fixed internet connections, 90% are very high speed connections (at least 100 Mbps). In fact, almost 93.5% of fixed internet connections have optical fiber at least up to the building, being made through FTTH or FTTB technologies, and 27% of connections (1.7 million connections, up +27% from from 2022) allow speeds of at least 1 Gbps.
The growth rate of average monthly fixed internet traffic continues the upward trend recorded in the previous period (+22%), reaching 69 GB per inhabitant/month (ie 2.4 GB/day).
Based on the number of fixed internet connections registered at the end of 2022, RCS&RDS had a market share of 67%, the Orange group 20% and Vodafone 12%.
The data processed by ANCOM shows that, at the end of 2022, the number of mobile internet connections registered a slight increase (+1% ), reaching the value of 21.4 million. Of these, 16.5 million connections (77%) allow the use of 4G and/or 5G technologies, their number increasing by +6% compared to the previous year. The number of 5G connections increased 3 times compared to 2021, reaching a total of 723 thousand connections.
Of the total number of mobile internet connections, 19.85 million connections are used for both telephony and mobile internet, and 1.52 million are used only for mobile internet access (data only).
Average mobile internet traffic increased by 24% in 2022, thus reaching 8 GB per inhabitant/month, that is almost 270 MB/day. According to the number of active mobile internet connections at the end of 2022, the largest market shares were recorded by the Orange group with 40%, Vodafone 24% and RCS&RDS 24%.
The market of fixed telephony services continues the usual downward trend, both in terms of the number of access lines, decreasing by 15% compared to the end of 2021, reaching 2.22 million lines, and in terms of the number of subscribers ( 1.78 million, down 17%).
The downward trend was also maintained in terms of the evolution of voice traffic, i.e. 20% annual decrease, up to the value of 1.3 billion minutes.
The average monthly landline traffic per inhabitant was 6 minutes, down 20% compared to the previous year.
Based on the number of subscribers to fixed telephony services at the end of 2022, RCS&RDS had a market share of 48%, the Orange group 36% and Vodafone 16%.
As for mobile telephony, the number of active users remained relatively constant in 2022, at 23 million. The number of postpaid SIMs grew by 6%, while the number of "active" prepaid SIMs fell by 6%.
The total number of subscribers to TV retransmission services remained in 2022 at 7.8 million, but the number of subscribers to cable networks stagnated (6.6 million), while the number of subscribers to satellite networks (DTH ) decreased by 21% (reaching 1.2 million), and that of subscribers through IPTV technology decreased by 22% (0.09 million).
Text message traffic recorded 16.9 billion units, while ANCOM calculated an average call duration of 2 minutes and 23 seconds and an average monthly call/user duration of 3 hours and 53 minutes.
In terms of roaming, mobile phone users consumed 423 million minutes, of which 105 million minutes were initiated calls and 318 million minutes were received calls.
User preference to migrate to cable retransmission services (+6% to 6.6 million subscribers) over satellite/DTH services (-21% to 1.2 million total) remains.
At the national level, the penetration rate per 100 households of TV retransmission services was 105%, the value being approximately the same both in urban and rural areas. Based on the number of subscribers at the end of 2022, RCS&RDS had a market share of 69%, the Orange group 16%, Vodafone 11%.
On December 31, 2022, The Public Register of Postal Service Providers included a number of 501 people authorized to provide postal services, thus registering an insignificant decrease of almost 1% compared to the end of 2021.
At the same time, a similar decrease was registered among the people who had the right to provide postal services included in the scope of the universal service, whose number reached 487 at the end of 2022.
On the other hand, the number of persons authorized to provide postal services not included in the scope of the universal service remained unchanged compared to the previous year, the public register indicating, at the end of the reference year, 495 such providers. But, in the context in which the persons whose status as postal service providers ceased during 2022 represent a percentage of approximately 10% of the number of providers registered at the end of 2021, without significantly altering, from one year to the next, the total number of suppliers, it can be concluded that, on its way to consolidation, the postal services market continues to remain dynamic and, at the same time, attractive and offering.
Source: ANCOM 2022 activity report
