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

The statistical data, aggregated by ANRCETI, on the evolution of the mobile broadband market (dedicated access + 3G, 4G) in the first quarter of 2019, show that 4G mobile broadband is increasingly demanded by mobile users. Thus, the number of 4G mobile broadband users increased by 41,2 thousand (4,4%) for a three month period, accounting for 979,5 thousand, and the number of 4G dedicated mobile users increased by 1,2 thousand (1,2%), reaching 103,3 thousand of the total number of broadband mobile connections (2 million 974,5 thousand). As a result of this evolution, the mobile broadband penetration rate increased by 0,9 p.p. for three months and reached 84%.

At the same time, the total mobile Internet traffic grew by 9,6% compared to the first quarter of 2018, reaching 23,8 million GB, smartphone Internet traffic increased by 17,1%, to a total of 10,3 million GB, and dedicated access traffic increased by 4,5% to 13,5 million GB. In the first three months of the year, a user who accessed mobile broadband via smartphone generated an average monthly traffic (AUPU) of 1,8 GB and a user of dedicated Internet access – a monthly traffic of 14,4 GB.

Following the increase in the number of users and the traffic they generated, the total volume of sales on this market segment increased by 30,2 million lei (12,4%) compared to the same period of last year and reached 274,5 million lei. As a result, the average monthly revenue (ARPU) per smartphone user grew by 11,3%, compared to the first quarter of 2018 and was equal to 34,6 lei, whereas the ARPU for dedicated access increased by 2,1% and was equal to 80,7 lei. The market shares of the three mobile broadband providers according to turnover were as follows: Orange Moldova – 62,6%, Moldcell – 28%, Moldtelecom-Unite – 9,4%.

Mobile voice

According to the available statistical data submitted to ANRCETI, by the three mobile providers (Orange Moldova, Moldcell and Moldtelecom - Unite), on the mobile voice segment there was a 14,4 million minutes (1%) increase in the total volume of voice traffic, compared to the similar period of 2018, exceeding 1,5 billion minutes. At the same time, the total number of subscribers dropped by 74,9 thousand (1,7%), compared to the end of the previous year, estimated at 4 million 301 thousand, while the volume of sales in this segment decreased by 21,9 million lei (2,9%) and constituted 727,2 million lei.

The total volume of voice traffic grew due to the increased traffic to other mobile networks – by 9,4%, totaling 268,3 million min. and increased traffic generated on the same networks – by 0,3%, amounting to 1 billion 130.8 million minutes. As a result of this development, average monthly traffic per user (MoU) increased by 4,4% to 273 minutes (four hours and 33 minutes) compared to the same period last year. In the first quarter of this year, an Orange Moldova user monthly consumed 314 minutes on average, a Moldtelecom - Unite user – 290 minutes and a Moldcell user – 199 minutes.

The total number of mobile voice users went down due to the decrease in the number of Orange Moldova subscribers (-40,1 thousand) and Moldcell subscribers (-39 thousand). At the same time, Moldtelecom's subscriber base grew by more than 4,2 thousand. Of the total number of subscribers – 3 million 498,1 thousand were active mobile users and 802,9 thousand – passive. As a result, the penetration rate of mobile voice services per 100 inhabitants decreased in three months by 1,8 p.p. and became 121,4%.

The average monthly revenue per active mobile voice user (ARPU) decreased by 0,2% compared to the first quarter of 2018 and was 68,6 lei. The APU indicator for Moldtelecom was 78,6 lei, for Orange Moldova – 72,8 lei and for Moldcell – of 59,6 lei.

At the end of the first quarter 2019, the market shares of the three mobile service providers, according to their turnover, did not undergo major changes – Orange Moldova with biggest market share – 64,7%, Moldcell – 29,5% and Moldtelecom – 5,8%.

May 29, 2019