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

Statistical data aggregated by the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI) shows that in 2017, the total number of mobile users increased, compared to 2016, by 30.7 thousand (+0.7% ) and totaled 4.5 million, and the penetration rate of these services, per 100 inhabitants, increased by 0.94 percentage points (pp) and reached the threshold of 125.6%.

The slight increase in the total number of mobile service users was determined by the increase in the number of subscribers of Orange Moldova and Moldtelecom - Unite. Orange Moldova subscribers increased by 31 thousand (+1.2%) to 2.6 million, while Moldtelecom - Unite subscribers increased by 25 thousand (+7%) and amounted to 375.3 thousand. At the same time, the subscribers of Moldcell decreased by 25 thousand (-1.7%) - to 1 million 485.8 thousand. At the end of 2017, from a total of 4.5 million users, 3 million 663 thousand were active mobile users and 797 thousand - passive users (who did not consume or pay in the last three months no mobile service).

The analysis of the evolution of voice traffic shows that the volume of traffic in Orange Moldova networks grew by 89.4 million minutes (+2.2%) and reached 4219.4 million minutes, Moldtelecom - Unite traffic increased by 17.5 million (+5.5%) and reached 335 million minutes, and Moldcell's voice traffic decreased by 102.6 million minutes (-5.8%) down to 1658.2 million minutes . This led to an insignificant decrease in average monthly traffic (-1.9%) per user up to 221 minutes (three hours 41 minutes), the average duration of a call being 1.7 minutes.

The same data shows that the total volume of revenues from mobile telephony services decreased by 104 million 271 thousand lei (-3%) to 3 billion 337.6 million lei. The decrease was caused by the decrease of sales made by Orange Moldova and Moldcell. The volume of sales of the two companies decreased by 96.1 million lei (-4.3%) and by 22.2 million lei (-2.14%) and amounted to 2 billion 159.4 million and 1 billion 018.1 million lei, respectively. At the same time, the sales of Moldtelecom - Unite increased by 14 million lei (+9.6%) and reached 160 million 054.4 thousand lei. As a result, average monthly revenue per mobile user (ARPU) decreased by 5.8% and amounted to 62.3 lei. Orange Moldova ARPU was 69.2 lei, Moldcell - 56.5 lei and Moldtelecom - 37 lei.

Compared to 2016, the positions of the three mobile telephony providers, by turnover, changed slightly. As per the end of 2017, Orange Moldova's market share decreased by 0.83 pp, making 64.7%, and Moldtelecom and Moldcell's market share increased by 0.55 pp and 0.28 pp respectively, constituting 4.8% and 30.5%, respectively.

March 03, 2018