“Our financial results reflect the impact of difficulties that the entire Romanian economy is facing, of regulations, as well as the tight competition on the local mobile communication market. The low purchasing power of consumers, caused by the depreciation of the leu against the euro, has led to a general decline in consumption, including in our industry. Meanwhile, tariffs and offers became increasingly more accessible, both on the back of tight competition and due to the need of people to benefit from advantageous packages in this difficult period,” Liliana Solomon, Chief Executive Officer of Vodafone Romania told Business Standard.
According to the group’s fiscal report, one of the factors that had a significant impact on revenues from services was the 15 percent depreciation of the national currency against the euro in the 12-month period prior to the end of September, considering that the operator’s tariffs are in euro while the income of households is in lei.
In the same negative trend, the total revenues of Orange Romania, the largest operator on the local market in terms of number of users, fell 18.1 percent in the first nine months of the year, to €800 mln.
“The role of competition is to provide more choices for consumers, not only in terms of tariffs, but also of the portfolio of services, their quality, and the assistance offered to customers, especially in an industry where innovation plays such an important part. In the past nine months we saw market tariffs align, so that the price is no longer a differentiator for any of the operators,” the CEO of Vodafone Romania said.
