Mobile phone market growth rate to drop to 5% in 2009

“If total mobile phone sales will register an average 20 percent rate in 2008, in 2009 the growth pace will not exceed 5 percent, should operators maintain their current policy so as to make 2010 a year of falling in line with the European situation,” Costin Soare, Retail Manager of Avenir-Telecom, told Business Standard.

Mobile phone operators sold 299 million phones in this year’s third quarter, 3.2 percent more than in Q3 2007, but 0.4 percent less than in the second quarter in 2008, considering that rises traditionally registered in Q3 amounted to up to 20 percent. The International Data Corporation (IDC) market intelligence firm blames the unstable economic context.

In Romania, there are no signs to indicate a lower growth rate in the final quarter of 2008. As of 2009, players are expecting both fewer sales and a change in consumer behavior.

“We estimate a 15 percent rise in mobile phone sales by year-end,” Cristina Szabo, Marketing Manager at Euro-GSM, told Business Standard. Szabo added that the Euro-GSM company will not feel the effects of the economic crisis in 2008 or 2009. “Smaller telecom dealers will be most affected, which will cause players to regroup on the market,” she added.

Officials of Germanos Telecom said no major variations were registered in the sales department. Adelina Pasat, Marketing Manager of Germanos Telecom Romania, said that consumers will probably have a more conservative attitude, which will reflect in the average phone use period, now at 12-18 months.