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| Network on servers (archive) |
The Internet market with fixed lines counted slightly more than 533 thousand subscribers in the middle of this year in Albania.
Data from the Electronic and Postal Communications Authority (Known locally with the acronym 'AKEP') show that the number of subscribers increased compared to the first quarter, with about 10,000 more subscribers, according Monitor.
However, the total number remains at lower levels compared to the same period a year ago, with 2.7% or about 15 thousand subscribers less.
The market in the last decade has become more and more competitive, especially in large urban centers, where the population concentration is higher. Compared to the mobile market, the fixed Internet market has a lower degree of concentration and appears more competitive in its breakdown structure by operators.
The second quarter also marked a symbolic development in the structure of the Internet service market. For the first time, Albtelecom is no longer the largest internet service operator in the country and has lost first place to Vodafone.
In the middle of this year, Vodafone Albania reported about 122 thousand Internet subscribers from fixed lines, increasing by 7.8% compared to the first quarter and 16.7% on an annual basis. With this figure, Vodafone owns about 22.9% of the broadband Internet market from fixed lines.
Vodafone Albania entered this market in 2020 when it finalized the acquisition of fixed line operator Abcom, and since then has reported rapid growth in this market segment.
Meanwhile, Albtelecom continued the downward trend during the second quarter as well. The total number of subscribers fell to less than 114 thousand, 0.7% less compared to the first quarter and 6.5% on an annual basis. Albtelecom already owns 21.3% and has lost its market leadership for the first time, at least since the period when AKEP publishes periodic market statistics. This year, Albtelecom was acquired by the Hungarian company 4iG, together with the mobile operator ONE. The investor has started the process of merging the two companies, which is expected to be finalized at the beginning of 2023.
Other companies are still far from the two dominant players in the market, but with a constant upward trend. The third position is ASC (Tring), with 10.5% of the market, followed by Abissnet, with 8% and Digicom, with 4.8%.