The number of users of mobile broadband Internet in the first quarter of this year rose by 2.8% compared with last yearend, to 2.497 million. The number of users of mobile Internet based on the 4G technology grew the most, by 7.2% to over 741,900. About 660,600 of these accessed the Internet through smartphones, while 81,400 through modems/cards/USB, IPN has learned from the ICT regulator (ANRCETI).
In the period, traffic generated by mobile Internet users through smartphones increased by 96.4% to over 8.760 million GB. The traffic generated by those that used dedicated mobile Internet access rose by 16.1% to 12.948 million GB, the mobile broadband Internet traffic totaling 21.7 million GB, up 39%.
Following the rise in the number of users and the volume of traffic generated by these, the total sales of mobile broadband Internet access services rose by 20.8% compared with the first quarter of last year to over 244.2 million lei. This was due to the positive developments witnessed by the three telecoms carriers. The sales of Orange Moldova increased by 24.4% to over 152.43 million lei, of Moldcell by 20% to 67.2 million lei, while of Moldtelecom by 4.2% to about 25 million lei.
At the end of 2017, the population and territory 4G networks penetration rate was 97% and 94% respectively. This means that almost all the holders of smartphones or tablet PCs can benefit from high-speed Internet access services.
