Romania's appetite for 3G video calls nearly doubles

Romanians spent a million minutes on video calls via their mobile phones in the first six months of this year, a growth of 81.5 percent on the local 3G video phone calls segment, according to the National Telecom Authority (ANCOM). Even though the number of active mobile phone users dropped during this period, the average length of a call, the number of text messages, multi-media messages and 3G phone calls has increased. Romanians talked on the phone for 28.6 billion minutes during the first six months of the year, which translates to an average of 20 hours per person. The number of text messages reached 5.2 billion, the equivalent of 220 per person text messages over the same six months. There were 23.6 million active users of mobile telephony services mid-2011, down 3.2 percent on the end of 2010. Romania has 21.6 million inhabitants, according to the 2002 census. The higher number of mobile phone users can be explained by the fact that some users have more than one phone and use the services of more than one mobile telephony operator. The mobile telephony penetration rate in Romania is of 110 percent. The number of active pre-paid mobile phone cards went down by 4.5 percent, while the volume of mobile telephony subscriptions for individuals diminished by 2.2 percent. The average length of a call went up to two minutes and 23 seconds. On average, a user talked for around 3 hours and 19 minutes on the mobile phone every month – up 9 percent on the first half of 2010, and sent 36 text messages. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: Sxc.hu)