Internet in Romania

In Romania there are 5.8 million connections to the Internet, out of which 3.2 million are broadband (end of 2007). [http://www.anrcti.ro/admin/Portal/LinkClick.aspx?tabid=2003&table=Links&field=ItemID&id=2821&link=SASP_Raport+date+statistice+2007+_sem++I%2bII_+ANRCTI.pdf ANRCTI report from May 2008 providing statistics up to December 31 2007] , pages 51-72]

Estimated number of Internet users: 7 million (Sept 2007) [http://www.internetworldstats.com/europa.htm#ro]

Country code (Top level domain): .ro

The .eu domain is also used, as it is shared with other European Union member states.

There were approximatively 250 000 domains registered under .ro at the end of 2007. [http://www.dailybusiness.ro/stiri-new-media/numarul-de-site-uri-noi-inregistrate-pe-ro-a-crescut-cu-35-anul-acesta_cat-12-8721]

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
Total number of active providers, as of Dec 31 2007: 1338
*Dial-up Access (fixed and cellular): 64 providers,
*Coaxial Cable (cable modem) Access: 72 providers,
*Optical Fiber Access: 343 providers,
*Wireless Access: 355 providers,
*xDSL Access: 52 providers,
*Twisted pair Ethernet, satellite, other: 1125 providers

Broadband Internet access

Broadband penetration as of Dec 31 2007: 14.8 broadband connections for every 100 people.

Distribution of broadband connections by type, as reported by ANRCTI, is as follows:
*ISDN: 0.003%
*Cellular broadband (EDGE, CDMA/EVDO, 3G): 33.1%
*Cable modems: 14.9%
*Optical fiber: 2.9%
*Wireless: 1% (0.7% Wi-Fi)
*xDSL: 11.4%
*Twisted pair Ethernet, satellite, other: 36.7%

In Romania, broadband internet has been available since 2000, through coaxial cable, first from Kappa (now defunct) and currently from RCS&RDS and UPC-Astral. Recent speeds range between 1 Mbit/s and 20 Mbit/s (both upstream and downstream) for household targeted plans.

However, the most popular broadband services are provided by micro-ISPs (known locally as "reţea de bloc/reţea de cartier" (Block/Neighborhood Networks) with 50 to 3000 customers each. These ISPs usually provide their services through 100BASE-T UTP LANs, with a number of particularities and peculiarities: most were grassroot organizations and still have a feeling of community between subscribers and the management, speeds are usually divided in three categories: "LAN", "Metropolitan" and "International" with Metropolitan meaning a limited number of networks with which the micro-ISP has a peering agreement and sometimes the cable internet providers. Generally, for such broadband connections, speeds are 100 Mbit/s locally, 1-50 Mbit/s metro and 256-2048 kbit/s International. Some of these micro-ISP function completely legally, while others (generally the smaller ones) are organized informally in something like a permanent LAN party. Many of these micro-ISPs formed organizations to represent their common interests and provide for integration of services (one such organization is Interlan, covering the whole of Bucharest). Speeds, uptime, quality of service are generally not guaranteed, and while the biggest networks offer high quality connections and technical support, for the smallest ones, there is even the risk of network cards burning because of lightning strikes and badly insulated network infrastructure.

For business use, services are usually provided through fiber optics or radio. Companies providing such services are providing very flexible and negotiable plans also based on the Metropolitan/International distinction. Usually prices and bandwidths are fully negotiable, with the micro-ISPs discussed above being influential resellers. There is very strong competition, with no peering between many such companies (again requiring a lot of traffic to be routed through international routes) and not even access to another's fiber-optics infrastructure (leading to the existence, in some cases, of over 25 fiber optics cables on the same street, hanging from the same pole). As such many companies have two separate providers for basically the same services. The major players being:
* [http://www.rdsnet.ro/ RCS&RDS]
* [http://www.euroweb.ro/ Euroweb]
* [http://www.mediasat.ro/ Mediasat]
* [http://www.upc.ro/ UPC] formerly known as Astral
* [http://www.evolva.ro/ Evolva]
* [http://www.fibernet.ro/ Fibernet]
* [http://www.intrabit.ro/ Intrabit]
* [http://www.ines.ro/ Ines]
* GTS Telecom (formerly known as KPNQuest Romania)

DSL has been a recent addition, and is not such a popular choice compared to the other offers because it is slightly more expensive, but it has a great coverage (more than 650 cities and towns). DSL in Romania is provided by Romtelecom and a small number of Romtelecom licensees (DigiCom, etc) using its extensive infrastructure.

Cable

RCS&RDS

* 2 Mbit/s downstream / 256 kbit/s upstream
* 3 Mbit/s downstream / 512 kbit/s upstream
* 4 Mbit/s downstream / 1024 kbit/s upstream

Triple Play (cable, internet, phone service) subscriptions are offered. Note that one must also have a cable subscription with RCS&RDS to have an Internet subscription.

UPC

*"Small" 1 Mbit/s downstream / 256 kbit/s upstream
*"Medium" 10 Mbit/s downstream / 1 Mbit/s upstream
*"Large" 20 Mbit/s downstream / 2 Mbit/s upstream

Triple Play (cable, internet, phone service) subscriptions are offered. Note that one must also have a cable subscription with UPC to have an Internet subscription.

Important UPC note: There is a 10GB/day recommended traffic quota. If exceeded, the downstream and upstream is limited to 10% of the initial specified speed.

FTTB

RCS&RDS launched in 2006 "FiberLink", an optic fiber based internet subscription geared towards supporting and encouraging the large demand for cheap metropolitan traffic. Most of RCS&RDS' cable infrastructure immediately began being replaced by the newer FTTB, and as of late 2006 RCS&RDS started expanding the service by acquiring and converting the popular "Neighborhood Networks" of the urban areas.

* 5 Mbit/s downstream traffic, 30 Mbit/s downstream local traffic
* 10 Mbit/s downstream traffic, 50 Mbit/s downstream local traffic

DSL

Service is offered by Clicknet, a subsidiary of Romtelecom.

* ClickNet 2 Mbit/s (2048 kbit/s downstream, 512 kbit/s upstream)
* ClickNet 6 Mbit/s (6144 kbit/s downstream, 512 kbit/s upstream)
* ClickNet 8 Mbit/s (8192 kbit/s downstream, 768 kbit/s upstream)
* ClickNet 20 Mbit/s (20480 kbit/s downstream, 1024 kbit/s upstream)

Mobile&Wireless

Zapp offers a wireless broadband service based on CDMA 1x and 1xEV-DO technology, with speeds of up to 2,4 Mbit/s downstream / 153 kbit/s upstream. It has subscriptions based either on traffic volume ( 100 MB/month, 200 MB/month, 500 MB/month, 1 GB/month) or time ( 5 hours/month, 15 hours/month), as well as an unlimited subscription.

Orange Romania offers a 3G/3G+ service up to 3.6 Mbit/s in selected areas. An unlimited time, 8 GB/month traffic limit. Lower priced plans, with less included traffic are also available. Additionally, where 3G/3G+ is unavailable, there is nationwide coverage of the GPRS / EDGE / UMTS network (where available) providing speeds of between 220-384 kbit/s downstream.

Vodafone Romania also uses 3G/3G+ technologies, with speeds of up to 7.2 Mbit/s. The HSDPA coverage is mainly targeted towards Bucharest and several other major cities and destinations [http://www.vodafone.ro/en/coverage/3g-broadband.html] .

References