The number of fixed broadband connections in Romania grew by 7% in 2013 to 3.8 million, according to data published by the regulator ANCOM.
Of these, approximately 3.5 million (+8% year-on-year) were installed to residential users, and 0.34 million, a total little changed on the previous year, to business users.
Compared to the end of 2012, the penetration rate of fixed broadband internet access connections per 100 inhabitants grew by 1.2 percentage points, to 18.8%, whereas the penetration rate per 100 households increased by 3.4 percentage points, up to 46.2%.
Growth in the take-up of fixed connections was most pronounced in rural areas, the 1 million total representing a year-on-year increase of 13%, compared to the 5% for urban connections, which totaled 2.8 million.
Regarding types of infrastructure, UTP/FTP cable reached almost 2.1 million (+6%), coaxial cable 540,000 (+18%) and xDSL, on copper support, 1 million (-4%).
Significantly, 97% (3.7 million) the total fixed broadband internet access connections were provided by means of technologies involving the use of fibre optic up to a point close to the location of the end-user (94% of the total connections) or up to their home (3%), which allows for offering high data transfer speeds of more than 30 Mbps.
