Moldovan mobile operator’s total sales decreased by 4.3 percent year-on-year to over MDL 804 million due to lower sales volumes realised by Moldcell and Orange Moldova, according to a report by local telecommunications authority ANRCTI.

The number of users decreased by 23,300 or 0.5 percent year-on-year to 4.3 million in Q1 mainly due to a drop of 39,000 customers seen by Orange Moldova, while the volume of voice traffic decreased by 2.2 percent to 1.504 billion minutes.

Moldcell and Moldtelecom's Unite division managed to increase their number of users by 13,400 and 2,300.

Moldcell's sales decreased by 5.4 percent to MDL 225.5 million, while those of Orange Moldova declined by 4.8 percent to MDL 544.7 million. Meanwhile, revenues of Moldtelecom grew by 14.8 percent to MDL 33.9 million. ARPU fell by 3.2 percent to MDL 62.2. Orange Moldova had the highest ARPU, namely MDL 72.9, and was followed by Moldcell with MDL 50.1 and Moldtelecom with MDL 35.

Diminishing voice traffic on mobile networks and mobile telephony sales was caused mainly by the increasing use of voice service via mobile internet (Skype, Viber, among others). ANRCTI experts believe that this trend, which is specific to the global mobile market, will be more pronounced in the coming years, when most users will own smartphones. In terms of turnover, Orange Moldova is first with 67.7 percent, followed by Moldcell with 28.1 percent and Moldtelecom with 4.2 percent, Telecompaper reports.