National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology of the Republic of Moldova

During 2015, the average mobile traffic per mobile user increased in comparison with 2014 by 7% and made 226 minutes or 3h and 46 minutes, while the total volume of voice traffic in mobile networks increased by 2,7% and exceeded 6,7 billion 315 million minutes, as shown by the statistical data about the evolution of mobile market last year, published today by National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI) on its official website.

According to the same data, it is Orange Moldova customers that talked on mobile phone most of all, on average 274 minutes per month. Moldcell users talked 170 minutes per month on average, whereas Moldtelecom (Unite) users – 114 minutes. Meanwhile, the total number of SMS messages via mobile networks was 983,6 million, which means that a user sent 22 SMS messages per month.

As a result of the increasing voice traffic in mobile networks, the total income obtained by the three providers from selling those services increased, in comparison with 2014, by over 61,8 mil. lei (+1,8%) and reached 3 billion 539,3 mil. lei. This increase is mainly due to Moldtelecom and Moldcell companies, which increased their sales by 11,3% and by 6,7%, raising their volume to 136,7 mil. lei and respectively 1 billion 17,3 million lei.

In the same time the sales of Orange Moldova reduced by 0,7% and made up around 2 billion 385,3 mil. lei. In the same period, the average monthly revenue per user (ARPU) raised up to 67,8 lei, increasing by 3,4% in comparison with 2014. Orange Moldova registered 78,4 lei ARPU, Moldcell – 57,2 lei and Moldtelecom – 34,4 lei.

The statistical data also show that the last year the total number of mobile users decreased in comparison with the end of 2014 by 44,8 (-1,14%) and totaled 4 mil.323,5 million, while the rate of penetration of these services per 100 population was 121,6%. This evolution was generated by the fact that some consumers give up the use of SIM cards, once the promotions of some offers proposed by providers are over. In comparison with 2014, the market shares of the mobile service providers, depending on the turnover, changed slightly. The marked share of Orange Moldova decreased 1,6 percent points and made up 67%. At the same time, the market share of Moldcell grew by 1,3 p.p. up to 28,3%, whereas the market share of Moldtelecom – by 0,3 p.p., up to 3,9%.

Additional data about market developments of mobile services in 2015 can be found on www.anrceti.md, Statistical Data section.

March 1, 2016