Thus, Orange Romania, the local division of the France Telecom group, registered the sharpest decline in revenues in the second quarter, of 16.7 percent. Countries in the region in which the group is operating brought better results, with declines of 6.1 percent on mature markets such as Poland, and 1.9 percent in Slovakia, but also a 14.6 percent increase in Moldova, whose market still has sufficient room for growth.
Vodafone is in the same situation. The Romanian division registered a 17.3 percent decline in revenues from services in April-June, exceeding the 15 percent decline on the Greek market, and that in Turkey of 11.2 percent.
“Romania is more affected than other countries in the region, due to artificial economic growth in the past few years, which led to artificial consumption,” the General Manager of the Digital Cable Systems (DCS) telecom operator, Dinu Malacopol, told Business Standard.
On the other hand, market research companies are much more optimistic regarding the estimates for the local market. International Data Corporation (IDC) forecast a 12.5 percent annual increase in the local telecom market this year, to $5.4 billion (€3.83 bln), although both Orange and Vodafone, the top two players in terms of number of users and revenues, ended the first half of 2009 with double-digit declines in revenues.
