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

In the first half of 2011, the number of subscribers to broadband Internet at fixed and mobile locations (3G mobile Internet) increased over the same period of 2011, by 37,5% and exceeded 455 thousand. The data are provided by the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI - www.anrceti.md)

The number of subscribers to broadband services at fixed locations increased by 38,8% reaching 310,1 thousand, whereas the number of subscribers at mobile locations exceeded 144,9 thousand, an increase by about 34,9%. As a result, the fixed broadband penetration rate, per 100 residents of the country, increased over early 2011 by 1,16 percentage points (p. p.) and reached 8,7%, the mobile broadband penetration – by 0,7 p. p., exceeding 4%.

In the given timeframe, fixed broadband providers connected 41 thousand new subscribers to their networks. JSC „Moldtelecom” connected to its network the highest number of subscribers – about 30,6 thousand (74,6% of the number of new subscribers). Companies „Starnet” and „Sun Communications” increased their subscriber base by 5,1 thousand (12,4%) and, accordingly by 2,9 thousand (7,1%). The other providers had 5,9% of the net connections. About half of the number of new subscribers (47,9%) were connected to the Internet by means of fiber networks, 44,3% – by means of ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) networks and 7,8% – by cable TV networks. As a result, at the end of the first semester, the share of subscribers connected to broadband Internet at fixed locations by means of ADSL networks was 60%, by means of optical fiber – 36% and by means of cable TV – 3,5%.

The number of JSC „Moldtelecom”s fixed broadband subscribers, as per July 1, 2011 was 220,2 thousand, company „Starnet” – about 53,5 thousand, „Sun Communications” – 11,8 thousand, the other providers jointly had over 24,6 thousand. The most significant market share on this market, in terms of number of subscribers – 71% – belongs to JSC „Moldtelecom”. Companies „Starnet”, „Sun Communications” and „Orange Moldova” hold the following shares: 17,2%, 3,8% and, accordingly, 0,8%. The rest of the providers operating on this market jointly hold 7,2%.

In the same timeframe, the three 3G mobile providers connected to their networks about 23,3 thousand new broadband mobile subscribers. JSC „Moldcell” connected the highest number of broadband subscribers – 14 thousand. JSC „Orange Moldova” and JSC „Moldtelecom” connected about 4 thousand and 5,2 thousand broadband mobile subscribers. At the end of the first semester, JSC „Orange Moldova” had more than 75,7 thousand 3G mobile internet subscribers, JSC „Moldcell” – about 54,9 thousand and JSC „Moldtelecom” – 14,3 thousand.

According to the ANRCETI data, in the first semester, the volume of sales as reported by the providers of fixed Internet services increased over the same timeframe of last year by 21,7% and equaled 303,2 million lei. This increase was mainly caused by higher sales volume of LLC „Starnet” (by 79,4%, exceeding 52 million lei), JSC „Moldtelecom” (by 12,6%, equaled 197,6 million lei), and JSC „Orange Moldova”(by 7,6%, equaled 12,3 million lei). The turnover of the other providers on this market increased by 24,1% and constituted 47,6 million lei.

In the reporting timeframe, the fixed Internet access market was operated by 47 providers. Other data about the Internet market evolution in qr I and II of 2011 are available on the Agency Web page: www.anrceti.md, section Market Evolution.

August 15, 2011