Romania: forecast of stagnation in handset in sales, with an increase of sales for dual SIM phones

[Act Media] Estimated at a volume of 5 million units sold at an average price of 110 euros last year, the mobile phone market will stagnate in 2009, according to the commercial manager of Germanos Telecom Romania, Alexandru Munteanu. The increase rate registered last year in volume was 10% compared to 2007. “We estimate that this year mobile phone sales will stagnate. We cannot make other estimates at this moment. We will have a clearer situation after the evaluation of the first months of the year,” Munteanu told Wall Street. In the first quarter of 2009, Germanos did not register big changes at the level of sales, but the company representative does not exclude the possibility of a worse situation in the months to come due to the present economic context.

“Figures registered until now show that we will have a year at least as good as 2008, but we also take into account the economic crisis. Since the evolution of general economic conditions is unpredictable we limit our prognoses to a single quarter,” MUnteanu said. The best sold phones by Gemranos in the first months of the year are the mainstream ones with prices around 100 euros. Most people who chose mainstream phones were influenced by the offer of phone subscriptions which made terminal purchase prices more accessible.

In 2009 the highest sales will be recorded by phones with connection. This kind of offers will make sales this year as it is expected that the use period of a mobile phone will grow while less new phone models will be manufactured than last year. Moreover, in 2009 purchase criteria will be different – necessity and purchase price, guarantee granted and functionality. As for the general market trend, in the present economic context, there is an increase of sales for dual SIM phones considering that the penetration rate of mobile phone services has reached 130%, according to ANC. Germanos is the markets telecom retailer in Romania and is part of the Cosmote group. The main competitors are Fonomat, EuroGSM, Say and Avenir Telecom.

Mobile phone market will stagnate in 2009