The subscribers to fixed wireless broadband Internet access services in the first quarter of this year increased in number by 8,700 or 1.4% to 631,800. According to the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology, the rise in the number of subscribers is due the higher number of those who chose to connect to the Internet through fiber to the premise (FTTx), IPN reports.

Those who connected to the Internet this way grew in number by over 12,000 to more than 406,400. The number of those who chose the coaxial cable rose by 1,700 to 46,000.

At the same time, the number of subscribers connected to the Internet based on xDSL (Digital Subscriber Line) technologies declined by 5,000 to over 177.000. Those connected through other technologies came to 2,300, down 145. As a result, the fixed broadband penetration rate per 100 people increased by 0.3% to 17.8%.

The total sales of the 87 active providers working on this segment rose by 19.6 million lei compared with the first quarter of last year to over 334 million lei. The average monthly revenue per user of fixed broadband Internet access services decreased by 0.6% on last year to about 178 lei.