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

According to statistical data on the evolution of mobile broadband market in nine months of 2019, processed by the National Agency for Regulation in Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI), the total number of 4G mobile broadband users increased, compared to the end of 2018, by about 559 thousand (+55%) and reached 1 million 578.5 thousand, of which - about 1 million 484.3 thousand (+58.2%) - browsed mobile Internet via smartphones and 94.2 thousand (+ 15.6%) used dedicated broadband (modems/cards). At the same time, the total number of mobile Internet users (2G, 3G, 4G + dedicated) increased by 260.5 thousand (+ 12%) and exceeded 2 million 428.7 thousand. Following this evolution, the penetration rate of mobile Internet access services, per 100 inhabitants, increased by 11.2 percentage points and reached 90.6%.

The data presented to ANRCETI, by the three mobile providers (Orange Moldova, Moldcell and Moldtelecom - Unite) show that during the reporting period the mobile broadband traffic generated by smartphone users increased by 41% and equaled 36 million GB, and the traffic generated by dedicated broadband access users increased by 5% and totaled about 37.3 million GB. A user who browsed mobile Internet via smartphone generated an average monthly traffic of 2 GB, and a user of dedicated broadband access - a monthly traffic of 17.4 GB.

The same data show that the total volume of revenues from mobile broadband services increased, compared to the same period of last year, by 13.1% and made up 881.2 million lei, while the revenues from dedicated broadband services decreased by 0.2% and totaled 179.9 million lei. Following this evolution, the average monthly revenue per user (ARPU) for mobile broadband via smartphone increased by 7.7% and amounted to 39.1 lei, and for the dedicated mobile broadband - decreased by 0.7% and made up 83.9 lei.

At the end of the reporting timeframe, the three mobile broadband providers had the following market shares, according to turnover,: Orange Moldova - 63.4%, Moldcell - 27.7% and Moldtelecom - 8.9 %.

December 2, 2019