subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 31.55 (2019 est.)
total subscriptions: 3.38 million
subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 15.8 (2019 est.)
Telephones - mobile cellular
total subscriptions: 3,613,846
subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 106.4 (2019 est.)
total subscriptions: 22.671 million
subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 106 (2019 est.)
Internet country code
.md
.ro
Internet users
total: 2,616,792
percent of population: 76.12% (July 2018 est.)
total: 15,165,890
percent of population: 70.68% (July 2018 est.)
Telecommunication systems
general assessment:
high unemployment and economic pressures have reduced consumer spending in telecom market; endeavors to join the EU have promoted regulatory issues in line with EU standards; mobile market extended outside of cities and across most of the country; LTE services available; market is competitive, fiber accounts for 62% of all fixed broadband connections and most telecom revenue is from the mobile market; importer of broadcasting equipment from China (2021)
(2020)
domestic: competition among mobile telephone providers has spurred subscriptions; little interest in expanding fixed-line service 27 per 100; mobile-cellular teledensity sits at 89 per 100 persons (2019)
international: country code - 373; service through Romania and Russia via landline; satellite earth stations - at least 3 - Intelsat, Eutelsat, and Intersputnik
note: the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on production and supply chains globally; since 2020, some aspects of the telecom sector have experienced downturn, particularly in mobile device production; many network operators delayed upgrades to infrastructure; progress towards 5G implementation was postponed or slowed in some countries; consumer spending on telecom services and devices was affected by large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes; the crucial nature of telecom services as a tool for work and school from home became evident, and received some support from governments
general assessment:
Romania's telecom sector benefits from infrastructure-based competition; domestic and international service improving rapidly, especially mobile-cellular services; fiber sector is one of strongest in Europe; government secured EU funding to extend broadband to rural areas; operators invest in networks' capacity upgrades; operator testing IoT; importer of broadcasting equipment from EU neighbors (2021)
(2020)
domestic: fixed-line teledensity is about 17 telephones per 100 persons; mobile market served by four mobile network operators; mobile-cellular teledensity over 117 telephones per 100 persons (2019)
international: country code - 40; landing point for the Diamond Link Global submarine cable linking Romania with Georgia; satellite earth stations - 10; digital, international, direct-dial exchanges operate in Bucharest (2019)
note: the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on production and supply chains globally; since 2020, some aspects of the telecom sector have experienced downturn, particularly in mobile device production; many network operators delayed upgrades to infrastructure; progress towards 5G implementation was postponed or slowed in some countries; consumer spending on telecom services and devices was affected by large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes; the crucial nature of telecom services as a tool for work and school from home became evident, and received some support from governments
Broadband - fixed subscriptions
total: 670,530
subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 19.74 (2019 est.)
total: 5,277,700
subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 24.68 (2019 est.)
Broadcast media
state-owned national radio-TV broadcaster operates 1 TV and 1 radio station; a total of nearly 70 terrestrial TV channels and some 50 radio stations are in operation; Russian and Romanian channels also are available (2019)
a mixture of public and private TV stations; there are 7 public TV stations (2 national, 5 regional) using terrestrial broadcasting and 187 private TV stations (out of which 171 offer local coverage) using terrestrial broadcasting, plus 11 public TV stations using satellite broadcasting and 86 private TV stations using satellite broadcasting; state-owned public radio broadcaster operates 4 national networks and regional and local stations, having in total 20 public radio stations by terrestrial broadcasting plus 4 public radio stations by satellite broadcasting; there are 502 operational private radio stations using terrestrial broadcasting and 26 private radio stations using satellite broadcasting
