The sales of mobile phone services in the first half of this year increased by about 18% compared with the corresponding period last year, to over 1 billion lei. The average monthly revenue per user (ARPU) was 102.28 lei, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting a communique from the national electronic communications regulator. The rising trend was determined by the increase in the sales of the mobile phone carriers Orange and Moldcell. The sales of Orange rose by 19.19% to about 1 billion lei, while of Moldcell – by 21.26% to 387.5 million lei. At the same time, Moldtelecom's sales of mobile phone services fell by 12.9% to 46.6 million lei. Following these developments, the average monthly revenue per user of Orange was 109.47 lei, of Moldcell – 76.76 lei, while of Moldtelecom – 78.11 lei. The total number of mobile phone users in the period grew by 6.8% to about 3 million, while the penetration rate was 80.1%. Orange Moldova has a market share of 72.5%, while Moldcell and Moldtelecom (the brand Unite) of 24.8% and 2.7% respectively. The fourth mobile phone carrier, Eventis Mobile SRL, does not work as it was declared insolvent at the start of the year.