Romania - Spectrum regulation supporting a maturing mobile market

Telecom Investment Research Note

Synopsis

Romania’s competitive mobile market is served by mobile network operators utilising a mixture of GSM, CDMA and WCDMA technologies, while efforts are being made by Vodafone, Cosmote and Orange to upgrade networks for LTE services. Accounting for multiple SIM-card ownership, mobile penetration stood at about 113% in early 2011, on a par with most of the more developed Western European markets. Growth strategies for mobile operators in coming years are focussed on mobile broadband. As such, recent regulatory measures as well as plans for liberalising spectrum during the next two years will significantly help the market develop. This will assist operator profitability as well as enable urban and rural Romanians alike to capitalise on emerging services.

1. Synopsis
2. Market background
3. Spectrum regulation
- 3.1 450MHz band
- 3.2 900MHz band
- 3.3 2.5GHz band
4. Mobile data services
5. Major mobile operators
- 5.1 Vodafone
- 5.2 Mobil Rom/Orange
- 5.3 Cosmote Romania/Cosmorom
  - 5.3.1 Telemobil/Zapp
6. Related reports

Chart 1 – Mobile traffic – 2008 - 2011
Chart 2 – Mobile market revenue – 2008 – 2012
Chart 3 – Total MMS messages sent – 2008 – 2012
Chart 4 – Total SMS messages sent – 2005 – 2012
Chart 5 – Vodafone subscribers and voice minutes – 2008 – 2010
Chart 6 – Vodafone ARPU – 2008 – 2010
Chart 7 – Vodafone revenue – 2009 – 2010
Chart 8 – Orange subscribers, by type – 2007 – 2010
Chart 9 – Orange annualised ARPU, data ARPU as proportion to total – 2008 – 2010
Chart 10 – Orange mobile revenue – 2008 – 2010
Chart 11 – Cosmote Romania financial data – 2006 – 2010
Chart 12 – Cosmote Romania subscribers – 2006 – 2010
Chart 13 – Zapp subscribers – 2009 – 2010