Mobile call termination tariff ceiling drops by a quarter in Romania

Interconnection tariffs charged by telecom operators in Romania went down by 24 percent from September 1, according to Romania’s Communications Authority (ANCOM). Maximum interconnection tariffs dropped to 3.07 euro cents per minute. This was a second step in reducing ceilings for interconnection tariffs this year, after a first in March, when the drop was between 19 and 30 percent.

The termination tariff represents the price paid by the telecom supplier to the telecom company where calls end. This price is part of the final cost of a call. End 2011, Romania had 23.4 million active users of mobile telephony services, more than its total number of inhabitants, as some consumers have more than one mobile number. The number of users was down 4 percent on end 2010, mainly due to the drop on the prepaid cards segment – 14 million, down 6 percent. The penetration rate at the end of 2011 was of 123 SIM cards at 100 inhabitants. The electronic communication market was of EUR 3.5 billion last year, according to ANCOM, based on data from telecom suppliers. Revenues from termination services for mobile voice calls was of EUR 0.47 billion, or 13.3 percent of the market. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: sxc.hu)