Mobile Internet Grows Five Times Faster Than Fixed-Line Internet

05.30.2011 ZF English

The number of subscribers to broadband mobile Internet services went up by 380,000 users in the last six months of 2010, reaching 2.23 million, compared to an increase by 70,000 subscribers for fixed-line Internet services, according to data published by the communications regulator.

With increases of over 20% in user numbers, who include both pre-paid and post-paid users, mobile Internet services recorded the biggest increase in customer numbers on the entire telecom market in June to December 2010. In six months, the number of Romanians who surf the Internet using a modem/USB card from a cell phone operator went up by 220,000, to nearly one million users.

As for cell phone services, operators lost 40,000 individual subscribers, while the number of subscriptions paid by companies rose slightly (by around 0.1%).

The market grew after nearly 300,000 pre-paid cards were activated, according to data from telecom regulator ANCOM, which "counts" only the pre-paid cards used for calls or for surfing the Internet in the monitored period. A pre-paid card which is within its validity period but has not been used is not considered active by the regulator. Around 23% of valid prepaid cards are inactive, according to the regulator.