Boston, MA -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/07/2013 -- BMI View: The Romanian telecoms market contains a number of major international players, such as Cosmote, backed by OTE and Deutsche Telekom, Orange, and Vodafone in the mobile sector, as well as Liberty Global-owned UPC in the wireline sector. While the mobile subscriber market has witnessed declines in total subscriber numbers in recent quarters, the latest data from operators show a return to growth in Q212. Romania is at a crossroads in terms of market development: the recent spectrum auction sees five operators being awarded LTE-capable bandwidth, and Vodafone had already begun trials of its 4G network at the time of writing. But faster download speeds require investment in LTE technology and 4G-capable infrastructure, and regular cuts to mobile termination rates (most recently in September 2012) have had a negative impact on operators' profits. The question remains: will the potential returns of 4G encourage operators' shareholders to approve new capital expenditure in a country where growth has been sluggish, and regulatory measures and weak economic conditions are hitting the market hard?

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Key Data:

- Inactive subscription discounting was repeated this quarter, but even despite these losses, the market has grown overall. The mobile market climbed to 27.183mn subscriptions in Q212; it gained 151,000 subscribers from Q112.
- The broadband market has seen a sharp slowdown in growth, falling from 19.1% growth in 2010 to 9.7% growth in 2011.
- The fixed-line market saw subscription growth in 2011, which we believe to be the result of the increasing popularity of bundled services.

Key Trends And Developments

Five operators won a total of 485MHz of spectrum in the 800MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz and 2600MHz bands. Cosmote, Orange, Vodafone, RCS&RDS and 2K Telecom all acquired spectrum, and are obliged to host MVNOs as part of the terms of the agreement.

Following the successful allocation of 4G-capable spectrum, Romania's mobile operators are keen to launch LTE services. Vodafone began LTE trials at the end of October 2012, Orange aims to begin its LTE pilot before the end of 2012 and Cosmote plans to launch LTE services in 2013.

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