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

In 2019, the total number of users accessing the mobile broadband based on 4G technology, registered significant increase of 51.6%, compared to 2018, and was estimated at 1 million 546.3 thousand people. Out of this number, about 1 million 450 thousand used mobile broadband services via smartphones, up by 55%, and about 97 thousand used dedicated mobile broadband (via modems/cards), according to the data available with the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI) on the evolution of the market for mobile broadband access services in 2019.

The data presented by Orange Moldova, Moldcell and Moldtelecom-Unite shows that the total number of mobile broadband users (2G, 3G, 4G and dedicated access technologies) increased by 9.8% to a total of about 2 million 382 thousand, and the mobile broadband penetration rate per 100 inhabitants, increased by 9.4 percentage points and added 88.8%.

According to statistics, the traffic generated by mobile broadband users via smartphones increased by 47.2% up to 52 million 452 thousand GB out of the total 104 million 721,4 thousand GB consumed during the reference period, which increased by 24%. The traffic generated by those who used the dedicated access increased by 7.2% and totaled 52 million 269.7 thousand GB. In 2019, a user who accessed the mobile broadband via phone generated an average monthly traffic of 2.1 GB, and a user who used dedicated access - a monthly traffic of 18.4 GB.

Following the increase in the number of users and the traffic they generated, the total volume of sales of mobile broadband services increased, compared to 2018, by 12.1% and was estimated at over 1 billion 187 million lei, while the revenues from dedicated access services decreased by about 1%, reaching over 240 million lei. Thus, the average monthly revenue (ARPU) per mobile broadband user (smartphone) increased by 11.5% and equaled 33.3 lei, and the ARPU per mobile broadband user (dedicated access) decreased by 0,3% and totaled 84.3 lei.

At the end of 2019, the three providers of mobile broadband services had the following market shares, according to the revenues from these services: Orange Moldova - 63.4%, Moldcell - 27.8 and Moldtelecom - 8.8%.

April 6, 2020