The number of active users of mobile phones in Romania advanced by nearly one per cent in 2015 to 23.1 million; 12.5 million of them used prepaid cards, and 10.7 million were on subscription, according to a report released Monday by National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communication president Catalin Marinescu.
Subscriptions advanced, however, by 8pct, while prepaid cards declined by 5pct, as the penetration rate of mobile phone services exceeded 116 per cent, with total traffic up by 4pct to 69.5 billion minutes, with average call time 2 minutes 32 seconds and 74 text messages per user as monthly average. International calls, up by 76pct to 3.7pct billion minutes, led this growth.
As regards mobile data connections, the number advanced by 16pct year on year in 2015, to 18.7 million, of which 14.7 million broadband connections. The mobile data traffic more than doubled, to 99,000 TB, up from 46,000 TB in 2014. The fastest growth was seen in 4G connections, more than threefold to 2.7 million.
Fixed internet connections still led, however, with 4.5 million TB of data, which was more than 97pct.