At the end of 2023, three out of four fixed internet connections in Romania were fibre-only, 13 percent more than the previous year. Gigabit connections exceeded 2 million, according to a report from Romanian telecom regulator Ancom. The report also shows that more than 80 percent of households across the country are connected to fixed internet services.
Eight out of ten active mobile internet connections (21.5 million) used 4G and/or 5G networks, due to the tripling of 5G connections, which reached 2.3 million at end-2023.
Fixed internet connections
Romania topped 6.6 million internet connections in 2023, which represents a increase of 4 percent year-on-year. Around 93 percent of these connections were at speeds of more than 100 Mbps. 31 percent of connections (2 million connections, up 20%) allow speeds of at least 1 Gbps.
The number of connections in rural areas rose 5 percent, and 4 percent in urban areas. Average monthly traffic reached 81 GB per inhabitant (+17%), i.e. 2.7 GB per day. At national level, the penetration rate per 100 households is 80 percent, (86% in urban areas and 72% in rural areas).
By number of connections, the top three operators are Digi (former RCS&RDS) with 70 percent, followed by Orange (17%) and Vodafone (11%).
Mobile internet connections near 22 million
The total number of active mobile internet connections increased to 21.5 million, of which 17 million used 4G and/or 5G networks. The number of 5G connections tripled compared to the end of 2022, reaching a total of 2.3 million at 31 December 2023. More than 20.4 million connections are used for both telephony and mobile internet, and 1.1 million are used for data only.
The average monthly traffic was almost 11 GB per inhabitant, up 32 percent year-on-year. By number of active connections, the top three operators are Orange (37%), Digi (27%) and Vodafone (23%).
Romania also had 23.6 million active mobile SIM cards at end-2023, two-thirds of which are subscription-based. Compared to the end of 2022, the number of subscription SIM cards rose 7 percent, while the number of active prepay SIM cards decreased by 11 percent.
Total voice traffic decreased by 6 percent to 60 billion minutes, while the average mobile phone traffic per inhabitant was 4 hours and 22 minutes per month and 16 SMS per month. According to the number of active SIM cards, Orange had a market share of 35 percent, followed by Vodafone with 28 percent and Digi with 24 percent.
Romania ended 2023 with 7.8 million subscribers to TV services. Cable TV customers rose 4 percent year-on-year to 6.8 million, while the number of satellite/DTH services was down 22 percent to 0.9 million. Digi led Romaniaās TV subscriber market with a market share of 73 percent, followed by Orange with 14 percent and Vodafone with 10 percent.
Telecom sector revenue
Revenues in the telecom sector amounted to RON 16.9 billion in 2023 (approximately EUR 3.4 billion). Fixed and mobile internet generated 37 percent of total revenues, while mobile telephony accounted for 29 percent of total telecom revenues, followed by TV services (15%), fixed telephony (9%), and other types of networks/services (10%).
According to revenues obtained from the provision of communications networks and services, the top three operators on the market are Orange (39%), Digi (26%) and Vodafone (24%).
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