Statistical data on the evolution of the market in mobile telephony services, aggregated by the National Agency for Regulation in Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI), shows an increase in voice traffic in the first nine months of this year. 

The volume of voice traffic increased, compared to the same period last year, by 0.8% and amounted to 4 billion 650 million minutes. At the same time, the volume of sales made by suppliers decreased by 2.3% and totalled 2 billion 358 million lei, while the total number of subscribers was down 1.7% to 4,371,600.

According to data provided to ANRCETI by the three providers of mobile communications services (Orange Moldova, Moldcell and Moldtelecom), the volume of voice traffic in Orange Moldova networks increased by 6 million minutes (+ 0.2%), in the Moldcell networks by 2.2 million minutes (+ 0.2%), and in Moldtelecom-Unite networks by 29 million minutes (+ 10.6%). As a result, the average monthly traffic per user increased by 5.1% for 279 minutes (four hours 39 minutes) and the average duration of each call was 1.8 minutes.

The decrease in the total number of subscribers of mobile telephony services was determined by the fall in subscribers at Moldcell (down 4.5%, for 1,454,500) and Orange Moldova (-0.9%, for a total of 2,515,600 users). At the same time, the subscriber base of Moldtelecom-Unite increased by 4.4% and totalled 401,500. Of the total number of subscribers, about 3,639,800 or 83.3% are active users. The penetration rate of the respective services in relation to 100 inhabitants reached the figure of 135.7%.

In the reference period, the average monthly income per active mobile user (ARPU) increased, compared to the first 9 months of 2018, by 1.4% and constituted 73.6 lei. Moldtelecom registered an ARPU of 81.3 lei, Orange Moldova 78.8 lei and Moldcell 63.7 lei.The market shares of the three providers in the mobile telephony services market, according to revenues, were as follows: Orange Moldova – 63.9%;Moldcell – 30.3%; and Moldtelecom – 5.8%.

Press release