TIRANA, April 11 – The country’s four mobile operators slightly increased their income in 2015 when the rising use of mobile internet services slowed down airtime growth and cut the number of text messages by double digits, according to a report by the telecommunication regulator.
The four mobile operators reported total income of 33 billion lek (€233mln) in 2015, up only 3 percent compared to 2014 when revenue hit a decade-low fuelled by tougher competition and lower termination charges for off-net calls set by the market regulator.
The number of active mobile users, defined as those that have made or received at least a call or SMS in the last three months, increased by only 1 percent to 3.4 million in 2015. Back in 2014, a mobile subscriber paid an average of 3.16 lek(€0.02)/minute and spend an average of 545 lek (€3.86)/minute a month.
At €0.19 Albania in 2014 had the lowest average revenue per minute in mobile communication among EU and regional countries, says the country’s electronic communications authority.
The number of subscribers with access to 3G and 4G services rose by 43 percent to about 1.3 million in 2015 while the number of text messages dropped by 12 percent due to a rise in alternative services offered by internet access.
The market shares of the four mobile operators remained almost unchanged in 2015.
Leading Vodafone Albania operator, part of UK-based giant Vodafone Group, continues dominating the mobile market with 47 percent market share in terms of subscribers and revenue, followed by Telekom Albania (former AMC), part of German Deutsche Telekom with 34 percent, Turkish-owned Albtelecom and Eagle Mobile with 12 percent, and Albanian-owned Plus Communication with 6.6 percent.
Mobile phone tariffs continued dropping even in 2014 with Albanians spending an average of 2.63 lek (€0.018)/minute, down from 3.13 lek (€0.021)/minute in 2013 and 6.49 lek (€0.045)/minute in 2010.
Off-net call charges also underwent a 26 percent cut in 2015 after the regulator ruled that all four mobile phone operators must charge unified tariffs for both on-net and off-net calls to bring an end to discrimination for the smaller operators claiming that differentiated prices allowed the bigger operators to keep their market shares.
A subscriber made phone calls of 183 minutes and sent 39 SMSs a month in 2015, which is more or less the same compared to 2014.
In March 2015, all Vodafone, AMC and Eagle Mobile were granted licences to launch the fourth generation of mobile service known as 4G LTE for a total amount of €23.5 million, the electronic communications authority.
Albanian-owned Plus has also recently acquired a 3G licence.
