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Romania Telecommunications Report Q3 2009Product Type: Market Research ReportPublished by: Business Monitor International Published: July 2009 Product Code: R302-7005 Description In our Q309 Telecommunications Report for Romania we have expanded our fixed-line and broadbandmarket data analysis segments while leaving the mobile market data analysis section unchanged, ready tobe fully updated in the subsequent quarter.Romania’s fixed-line sector is dominated by the incumbent Romtelecom which had a 68.7% marketshare (including VoIP) at the end of June 2008. If VoIP is taken out of the equation, which is almost all ofthe cable operators fixed voice customers, then Romtelecom’s market share is much higher. The 2%decline seen in 2008 in Romtelecom’s subscriber base represented a big improvement on the 11% declinein 2007. The main culprit has been fixed-to-mobile substitution, although fixed voice operators arefighting this by marketing double- and triple-play products. Romtelecom has put the slowing fixed-linedecline down to the launch of improved tariffs and the success of its broadband and DTH businesses. Theincumbent also intends to launch an IPTV service by the end of 2009 which will see it add another facetto its bundled service offerings. Most internet service providers (ISPs) in Romania are unshielded twisted pair (UTP) or fully shieldedtwisted pair (FTP) based, although their number is decreasing. At the end of June 2008 UTP/FTPbroadband connections accounted for 1.19mn of the country’s 2.27mn broadband connections. However,due to the local nature of these networks none of them are particularly large. Romtelecom is the largestbroadband operator in the country with its ADSL business, Clicknet. ADSL is the second most prominentbroadband platform in the country accounting for 22.5% of broadband connections, and Romtelecomaccounts for around 99% of the ADSL market. Cable broadband is witnessing fairly stale growth ratesand is witnessing its market share in the broadband market decreasing, now accounting for less than 20%of connections. The broadband sector is increasingly being characterised by demand for double- and triple-play productswhich has seen Romtelecom launch its highly successful DTH pay TV service Dolce, which will beaugmented with an IPTV service by the end of the year. Cable operators such as RCS&RDS and UPCRomania are also heavily marketing their triple-play services, both providing fixed telephony,broadband, cable TV and DTH services. Nevertheless, ADSL growth is far outstripping that of cablebroadband, in part owing to the sheer scale of Romtelecom’s fixed network. The main news from the mobile sector has been third largest operator Cosmote’s agreement to acquirethe country’s smallest operator Telemobil. Telemobil has struggled to make a significant impact on themarket and the acquisition will give Cosmote a licence to offer 3G services. The mobile sector exhibitedrobust growth in 2008 despite penetration being well above 100%. At the end of 2008, the market heldjust under 28mn customers, representing penetration of 130.6%. This represented growth of 22.3% duringthe year, driven primarily by Cosmote, which has continued to focus on the prepaid segment. RCS&RDShas also exhibited extremely strong growth, taking its subscriber base to an estimated 1.4mn at the end of2008, representing 5% of the market. However, as RCS&RDS has been pushing its mobile services ontoexisting customers in other service lines, we are expecting its growth to slow dramatically in 2009. Coupled with an expected slowdown in Cosmote’s growth as the market approaches saturation, we seegrowth falling over the remainder of our forecast period to 2013. Table of Contents
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