Orange Romania, the country's largest telecom operator, has reached 100% 4G coverage in urban areas, the company announced. The Orange 4G network now covers 7,585 localities in Romania.

Since the launch of the Orange 4G service nationwide in 2014, the data traffic at 4G speeds has increased 128 times, the company said.

The past year has also seen an upward trend. The 4G traffic increased four times in the first quarter of 2017 compared to the same period the previous year. Moreover, 2.4 million clients were using the Orange 4G services at the end of March 2017, double compared to the first quarter of 2016.

“All this was supported by increased sales of smartphones and devices connected to smartphones (smartwatches, fitness bracelets, robots, VR glasses, Apple Airpods, and personal assistant headphones), as well as the rapid expansion of the 4G service coverage,” Orange said.

The areas where the 4G services consistently register the highest traffic peaks are Bucharest, Cluj, Iasi, Sibiu, and Mures. Meanwhile, the highest increases in traffic are usually registered between 20:00 and 22:00, a trend that has maintained since the launch of the 4G services.

The clients are generally using 4G for streaming (39% of traffic), browsing (47%), and messaging (5%).

Orange is the biggest local telecom operator in terms of revenues and number of clients. For the first quarter of 2017, the company reported a turnover of EUR 246.2 million, up 4.6% compared to the similar period of 2016.

Orange’s main competitors on the local market are Vodafone, Telekom Romania, and RCS&RDS.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com