Telecom market in H1: users further cut budgets, few segments on the rise

After mobile and fixed telephony, sales of fixed Internet and television services are no longer rising like in previous years, and some operators are even posting declines. The two fields still boasting strong increases are mobile Internet and smartphones, with growth rates even of tens of percentage points against 2009.
Expenses linked to telephony, Internet and television services were still under pressure in the first half of the year, with both companies and individuals further optimising expenditures amid the difficult economic conditions and the impact of income cuts for public sector employees, show the financial data of some of the biggest players on the market.
Orange and Vodafone, Romania's biggest mobile telephony providers, announced falling revenues for the first two quarters of the year amid declining consumption by subscribers and users of prepaid cards.
The only mobile telephony operator that saw its number of clients and revenues go up in the first half was Cosmote. However, the increase came amid the acquisition of Zapp and as the operator is still in the development phase.