Over half of mobile phone users have contracts with unlimited data

The percentage of mobile phone contracts with unlimited voice, SMS and data exceeded 50% of the total in the first half of 2023, according to the Office of the Commissioner of Electronic Communications and Postal Regulation (OCECPR).

"Packages with unlimited data, voice, and SMS account for 50.02% of contract subscriptions, and for the first time, there are more of these than contracts without unlimited data, voice, and SMS," OCECPR said in its statistical bulletins for the electronic communications market covering up to June 2023.

At the same time, the total volume of data for the first half of 2023 increased by 56.5% compared to the second half of 2022.

Furthermore, in mobile telephony, according to data from the first half of 2023, there is an increase of 23,370 in the total number of mobile phone users compared to the second half of 2022.

The OCECPR said that in the total volumes of mobile and fixed broadband data, the percentage of mobile broadband data is in double digits for the first time in 2023, reaching 10.57% in the first quarter and 11.53% in the second quarter, with the corresponding percentages for fixed broadband data at 89.43% and 88.47%.

"This change is primarily due to the increase in mobile contracts with unlimited data," it is reported.

According to OCECPR, as far as contract subscribers are concerned, there is a slight decrease in Cyta and Epic, while Cablenet, which entered the mobile phone market in 2017, shows increasing trends, reaching 8.7%, and Primetel, for the first time in 7 months, shows a small increase, reaching 9.1%.

Regarding prepaid mobile phone users, Cablenet shows a significant increase from 4.4% to 6.7%, with a parallel decrease in the shares of Cyta and Epic, and Primetel also shows an increase of 1.4%, reaching 15.5%.

In terms of the overall market shares of providers, Cablenet and Primetel show an increase in their percentages, accompanied by a decrease in the shares of Cyta and Epic, while it is noted that for the first time, Cyta's percentage is below 50% (49.8%).

Regarding fixed broadband access, the number of subscribers during the first half of 2023 increased by 2,557, or 0.7%, compared to 2022. Additionally, there is a significant increase in the percentages of subscriptions with speeds ≥100Mbps, which now make up 63.7% of subscriptions.

The total data volume during the second quarter of 2023 reached 0.92 TB, with the total data volume for the first half of 2023 showing a 19% increase compared to the second half of 2022.

The market shares of fixed broadband access providers remained stable, as noted by OCECPR with changes in market shares during the second quarter not exceeding 0.1% on a quarterly basis. Cyta remains in the first position with a 58% share, followed by Cablenet with 23.4%, Primetel with 11.6% in third place, and Epic with 7% in fourth place.

(Source: CNA)