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

The statistical data about the evolution of the market for mobile access to Internet in the nine months of 2015, aggregated by the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI), show that during this timeframe the number of users of these services increased by 3,7% up to over 1 million 750 thousand, the Internet traffic generated by them increased by 38% and constituted 28 million 229,9 GB, the providers’ revenues from these service increased by 19,5% and totaled over 429,5 million lei.

According to the reports submitted to ANRCETI by the three mobile providers (Orange Moldova, Moldcell and Moldtelecom), most users – 1,3 million - accessed mobile broadband: via 3G, 4G networks and modems/cards/USB (dedicated Internet access). The number of 4G users grew significantly. The number of users of 4G services via mobile phone/smartphone tripled (up to 84,7 thousand), the number of users of dedicated mobile Internet access doubled (up to 13,5 thousand).

Following the increasing number of users, the penetration rate of mobile broadband per 100 population increased versus the end of 2014, by 3,6 percentage points (pp) and reached 37%, while the penetration rate of dedicated mobile Internet access - by 0,5 pp and made 8,3%.

Statistics also shows that the total volume of mobile Internet traffic in nine months of 2015, 4 million 166,4 thousand GB was generated by users via mobile phones/smartphones, and 24 million 063,4 thousand GB by users of dedicated mobile Internet access. According to statistics, a user who accessed the Internet via a mobile phone/smartphone generated an average monthly traffic of 325 MB, while a user accessing the Internet via modems/ cards/USB – 9,1 GB traffic.

The increasing total sales of mobile Internet access services in nine months of this year occurred due to increases with all three mobile providers. Moldcell's revenues from these service increased by 31,8% and up to over 104,5 million lei, Orange Moldova’s revenues – by 17,2% up to 253,9 million lei and those of Moldtelecom ¬ by 11,8% up to over 71,1 million lei. Following these developments, the average monthly revenue (ARPU) per Internet user via mobile phone/smartphone increased by 15,1%, making 13,6 lei, per mobile dedicated Internet user - by 2,6% and made up 97,2 lei.

However, the market positions of the three providers did not change significantly. According to ANRCETI estimations, at the end of the reporting period, the market shares by turnover were the following: Orange Moldova – 59,1%, Moldcell – 24,3% and Moldtelecom – 16,6%.

More information on the evolution of the mobile Internet access market in nine months of 2015 is available on ANRCETI Web page: www.anrceti.md, Section “Statistical Data”.

November 26, 2015