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

In the first half of the year, the use of fixed telephone services continued to decline, both in the number of subscribers and voice traffic. Statistical data on the evolution of the fixed telephony market for this period, published on the official website of the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI) show that the number of subscribers decreased compared to the end of 2014, by about 9,5 thousand (0,8%) and constituted about 1 million 208,8 thousand, while total voice traffic – by 21,4% to 1 billion 76,9 million minutes.

The decrease of fixed voice traffic was caused by decrease of all types of traffic. The traffic originated outside the country and terminated in domestic fixed networks dropped by 14% (to 67,4 million minutes), the traffic to international networks – by 26,9% (to 14,8 million minutes), the traffic to mobile networks – by 9,1% (to 43,9 million minutes), interconnection traffic – by 8,5% (to 221,7 million minutes) and the traffic to other fixed networks – by 43% (to 44,9 million minutes). As a result of this evolution, the average monthly voice traffic per user dropped by 12,3% totaling 238 minutes (about four hours). The total number of subscribers reduced due to the reduction of Moldtelecom’s subscriber base by more than 12,5 thousand (1,1%), showing over 1 million 85,8 thousand. Meanwhile, the cumulative subscriber base of the 22 alternative fixed telephony providers grew by over 3 thousand (2.6%) and totaled about 123 thousand subscribers. Following these developments the fixed penetration rate decreased by 0,2 percentage points (p.p.) and constituted 34%.

The decrease of voice traffic and number of subscribers in the fixed telephony sector is explained by the migration voice services offered via Internet and to mobile services, which are more convenient and advantageous.

In the timeframe concerned, the aggregated revenues of alternative fixed providers grew over the first half of 2014 by 5,3% and made over 31,8 million lei, whereas the revenues of Moldtelecom slightly increased, by 0,8% and constituted over 476 million lei. The average monthly revenue per users (ARPU) went up 2% making 69,8 lei. The ARPU registered by Moldtelecom was 72,6 lei (up by 2,6%), while the ARPU of alternative providers was 44,2 lei (down by 3,1%).

As a result of the evolution of indicators mentioned above, in the first half of 2015, the market share of Moldtelecom by turnover was 93,7% (down 0,3 p.p.), and the cumulative share of fixed alternative providers increased the same proportion and made 6,3%. More information about the evolution of the fixed telephony market in six months of 2015 is available on: www.anrceti.md, Statistical Data Section.

September 3, 2015