Orange returns to growth in Romania in the second quarter as mobile internet surges

Orange Romania, the country’s largest mobile carrier, returned to nominal growth in the second quarter of this year, after four consecutive quarters of decline determined by the regulator’s decision to cut termination fees last year. The company posted EUR 233 million revenues in the second quarter, up by 6.4% compared to the same period of 2014. In the first half of the year, the company’s revenues reached EUR 454 million, up by 1.3% year-on-year. The revenue increase was mainly supported by mobile internet services. The mobile data traffic in Orange’s network increased by 112% in the second quarter of 2015 compared to the same quarter of last year, as tablet and smartphone sales also went up. Half of the mobile phones currently used in Orange Romania’s network are smartphones. The number of 4G smartphones sold in the first half of 2015 was almost triple compared to the first six months of 2014 while the sales of 4G tablets went up 4.5 times, according to Orange. The company’s 4G coverage reached 95% of the urban population and 67% of Romania’s total population, as of June 30, 2015. Orange Romania had 10.205 million customers at the end of June 2015, down from 10.53 million at the end of December 2014. The Orange TV service reached 221,000 subscribers. Orange and RCS&RDS secure highest download speeds in Romania Orange opens its first fully digital store in the world in Romania editor@romania-insider.com