November 23 (SeeNews) - Sales of Moldova's four wireless phone operators rose by 3.24% on the year to 2.2 billion lei ($199 million/133 million euro) in the first nine months of 2009, the country's telecoms regulator, ANRCETI, said on Monday.
In the third quarter alone, their sales grew by an annual 9.45%, ANRCETI said in a statement.
It added that only Orange Moldova reported a rise in sales in January-September. Its sales were up by 11.3% over the review period.
The sales of the other three operators, Moldcell, Moldtelecom and Eventis Mobile, fell by 10.9%, 24.3% and 19.5%, respectively, the regulator said.
Orange Moldova had a 73.24% market share in terms of turnover at the end of September and Moldcell followed with 23.41%.
The number of mobile telephony subscribers reached 2.7 million at the end of September, up by 18.2% on the year. The mobile penetration rate in the country of four million was at 76.1% at the end of September, up from 64.1% a year earlier, the regulator said.
(1 euro=16.6041 Moldovan lei)