Orange Romania, the biggest local telecommunications group, has decided to offer free mobile internet traffic during weekends for new subscribers and existing clients who renew their contracts. The move came shortly after Orange expanded its fixed-mobile service coverage to over 90 cities in Romania.

Orange’s autumn offer includes unlimited 4G internet traffic from Friday to Sunday for all clients who sign or renew their subscriptions between September 8 and October 14. The bonus is only valid, however, for clients who get subscriptions over EUR 14 per month for a year or 2-year subscriptions worth over EUR 12 per month.

Moreover, orange has also decided to increase the 4G internet traffic included in the current service packages.

“Romanians consume more and more mobile internet and this is a trend that will continue to grow in the next period. We want Orange offers to reflect our clients’ changing needs,” said Yves Martin, Chief Marketing Officer Orange Romania.

Orange’s 4G network covers 70% of Romania’s population and 96% of the urban population.

Mobile internet is the new battleground for the three big local telecom operators as more Romanians buy and use smartphones.

Vodafone has also been very active in promoting its 4G data service by offering unlimited 4G internet access to all of its clients and even to non-clients on certain weekends, in order to get them to buy mobile internet subscriptions.

Vodafone, whose 4G coverage is slightly lower than Orange’s in Romania, recently launched 4G+ services, which provide download speeds almost double compared to 4G, in more than 370 cities in Romania. Orange only offers 4G+ services in 13 big cities.

Orange is the telecom market leader in Romania, with 9.85 million clients and EUR 476 million revenues in the first six months of 2016. Its main competitors are Vodafone and Telekom Romania.

editor@romania-insider.com