Bogdan Gavrila – Core Target

I was blogging here about their 2007 update last January – on the IWS website we had:
- 7,000,000 Internet users as of Sept/07, 31.4% penetration, per ITU.
- 1,769,300 Internet broadband connections as of Sept/07, per ITU, 7.9% p.r.

Here is the new 2008 IWS website update:

-12,000,000 Internet users as of Mar/08, 53.9% penetration, per ITU.
-1,769,300 Internet broadband connections as of Sept/07, per ITU, 7.9% p.r.

History – Romanian Internet users and connections (2000-2008 estimates):

• 2000 – 800,000 – 3.6 % (users, ITU)
• 2004 – 4,000,000 – 18.7 % (users, ITU)
• 2006 – 4,940,000 -   23.4 %  (users, C.I. Almanac)
• 2006 – 5,063,000 (users, CIA World Factbook)
• 2006 – 7,030.657 (users, trafic.ro)
• 2007 – 5,062,500 -  23.9 % (users, ITU)
• 2007 – 7,000,000 – 33% (connections, mid-year estimate MCTI)
• 2007 – 4,700,000 (users, yahoo.com AdPlayers)
• 2007 – 7,890,000 – (MCTI Internet connections, 31st dec 2007 – 5,79 million internet connections and 2,1 million dedicated broadband connections)
• 2008 – 8,685,057 (users, yahoo.com – MediaCafe Ratecard 2008 xls)
• 2008 – 12,000,000 53,9% (users, ITU)

If Yahoo! reported 8,6 million Romanian users in 2008 (from 4,7 in 2007), 12,000,000 can be close to reality and therefore I tried to find statistical data for the annual growth rate in order to make a personal prediction.

In a Ministerial Conference that took place in Sarajevo (October 28-30, 2007), Mr. Zoltán SOMODI, from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology presented some Romanian ICT achievements:

June 2006 – June 2007: 78.2% growth rate of Internet connections (ANRCTI) – there was also a significant growth of dedicated access Internet connections – 140% growth in 2007 as compared to the end of 2005.

Also from ANRCTI

xDSL connections – 270% growth in 2007 compared to 2006;
UTP/FTP connections – 120% growth in 2007 compared to 2006; (source – Dan Georgescu, ANRCTI President, Ziua ComunicaÅ£iilor, Bucharest, 08th of May, 2008 – “PiaÅ£a comunicaÅ£iilor electronice – între politica de reglementare ÅŸi strategia de business” – presentation)

One thing is for sure – there were 1,769,300 Internet broadband connections as of Sept/07, and 2,100,000 as of Dec/07. In my opinion, 12,000,000 users and 53,9% penetration can make sense with the same minimum ~70% growth rate in 2008… which is pretty huge. Time will tell – I’m all eyes and ears

Statistical data for Romania:

• Population: 21.6 million (2007)
• Territory: 238,391 sq km
• Population urban/rural: 55.2/44.8%
• Households: 7,320,202
• 22.9 million of mobile phones (106% penetration of mobile services at the end of 2007 – source: ANRCTI)
• 5,3 million TV subscribers (cable/DTH/IPTV – 71,7% penetration at the end of 2007 and a 177% growth rate for DTH subscribers in 2007 – source: ANRCTI)

Related Posts

• September 14, 2009 -- Yahoo Messenger in Romania: The Yellow Smiley Face
• May 23, 2009 -- Internet market in Romania – How do you know what your competition is thinking
• April 16, 2009 -- Romanian Online Advertising Market in Q1 – Internet Business Intelligence Report
• February 23, 2009 -- Bobby Voicu leaving Yahoo Romania
• October 5, 2008 -- False flag operations
• October 5, 2008 -- Webstock, Politica 2.0 – Internet Events in Romania
• September 24, 2008 -- News to read between two meetings
• September 2, 2008 -- Google vs. Yahoo in Romania – fighting on e-mail services (II)
• July 2, 2008 -- Romanian Internet Advertising Market Updates In Q2
• June 25, 2008 -- University holidays and Internet traffic changes in Romania