Number of active SIM cards slightly down in Romania in H1

The number of active SIM cards in Romania reached 22.2 million in the first half of this year, down 1.5% compared to the same period last year. A mobile phone user talked on average four hours and 14 minutes on phone and sent 59 text messages during this period, according to the telecom regulator ANCOM. Some 11.8 million users had phone subscriptions, up 7% year-on-year, whereas 10.4 million users had pre-paid cards, down 10% year-on-year. The total voice traffic reached 34.3 billion minutes in the first six months of this year, down 4% compared to the same period last year. Only the traffic to other phone networks went up during this period, by almost 12% to 11 billion minutes. The traffic on all other segments, except for roaming, decreased in the first half of this year. The number of text messages amounted to 8 billion during this period, down 16% year-on-year. International roaming services recorded a significant increase in the first half of this year, after a EU regulation removed most of the roaming tariffs starting June. editor@romania-insider.com