The average mobile communications clients in Romania used 167 megabytes (MB) of mobile internet traffic in the first half of 2015, up from 110 MB in the same period of 2014, according to a study released by Romania’s telecommunications regulator ANCOM in February 2016.

The over 50% increase in mobile data use has been determined by several factors. Firstly, smartphones have become more accessible for a wider category of people and the smartphone sales are on the rise, and, secondly, the mobile carriers have increased their 4G coverage in Romania providing higher download speeds to more people.

All mobile user profiles have increased their internet consumption. The intensive users had an average data traffic of 501 MB per month in the first half of 2015, up from 330 MB per month in the same period of 2014. Even the occasional users generated an average traffic of 57 MB per month up from 37 MB per month, ANCOM data shows.

The mobile users have also increased the number of minutes they spend in mobile conversation, but they have started to talk more outside their networks, after the termination rates have been reduced, thus making it cheaper to call people from other networks.

The average mobile users talked 58 minutes per month outside their network in the first half of 2015, up from 37 minutes per month in the first six months of 2014. At the same time, the number of minutes spent talking within the network declined to 193 per month, from 208.

The number of text messages (SMS) sent by the average users increased slightly, from 71 to 74 per month.

The data is based on ANCOM’s Veritel.ro application, which allows users to configure the mobile service packages that would suit them best and to compare the offers from various telecom companies.

The Romanian mobile phone user profile: how many hours on the phone?

editor@romania-insider.com