Local IT&C market in 2005: four billion euros

The Romanian IT industry will not reach one billion euros this year, yet if added to the communications sector, the local market will see more than 4 billion-euro revenues, the European Information Technology Observer (EITO) says quoting a survey by US International Data Corp (IDC).

All in all, the IT&C market in Romania will amount to 4.032bn euros this year, with fixed and mobile communications accounting for 3.16bn euros and the IT industry (hardware, software and services) accounting for 872 million euros. Analysts estimate the average growth will be of 9.2% compared with 2004. Decline will only happen on niche markets. The most significant growth of 2005 will be posted by the Internet and IT service sectors, the IDC analysts say.

Out of the 3.26bn worth of communications market, more than 1.6bn euros account for the revenues of the mobile telephony industry, one of the most dynamic markets in Romania. The mobile telephony services (the operators i.e.) will collect 1.175bn euros in revenues this year. The equipment spending will go up to 273 million euros, while the mobile phone market will reach 182 million euros, IDC says.

The rest of the money will be derived from fixed telephony, Internet access services and cable TV services. Total revenues on the traditional telephony market will reach 700 million euros next year (a mere 1% on 2004), while spending on equipment will amount to nearly 250 million euros. The cable TV operators will collect about 320 million euros from services, IDC analysts say. Fixed Internet access services will be the fastest growing market, according to the American company, progressing by approximately 26.8% form 2004. Revenues on this segment should be of 257 million euros. At the same time, the turnover made by the server vendors will increase by 22.9%.

The IT industry will grow by 11.2% on the average this year, with almost half of the total revenues derived by the computer (laptop and desktop PCs, servers), hardware equipment and parts vendors – 437 million euros.
dan.dragomir@zf.ro