Mobile services in Albania cost more than the EU average

Communication services in Albania are more expensive compared to the European Union. According to comparative statistics from Eurostat, the price index for communication services last year was 2.7% higher than the European Union average. These data confirm the upward trend in communication prices in Albania, particularly related to the mobile services segment.

The mobile phone market in Albania has now returned to the same structure as in 2008, with only two operators in the market. The entry into the market of the third operator Eagle Mobile (Albtelecom) and then of the fourth operator, Plus Communication, brought increased competition and a significant reduction in communication tariffs.

But these two operators never managed to become profitable. Plus Communication exited the market in 2018, while Albtelecom was sold last year to the Hungarian group 4iG, which in parallel also acquired the other operator, ONE.

The reduction in the number of mobile operators in the country has begun to affect the cost of communication packages. On the other hand, the transition to 5G technology and the ongoing needs in technology have fueled even more upward pressure on the prices of mobile operators in the country.

Albanians consumed 2 billion GB of internet in 2024

The electronic communications market is increasingly oriented towards internet service.

Data from AKEP shows that internet consumption increased, both from fixed and mobile networks, and reached a record volume of around 2 billion GB (gigabytes) for 2024.

Broadband internet traffic from fixed networks reached about 1.78 billion GB, or about 41% more than in 2023.

While internet traffic from mobile networks reached 223 million GB, up 15.4% compared to a year earlier.

According to AKEP, these figures demonstrate the increasing role of the internet in accessing financial, informational, social, health services, etc. The rapid increase in the use of receiving services via the internet network has increasingly brought about the need for connections that enable high-speed and high-quality broadband data transmission.

The structure of subscribers with access to fixed internet services is continuously evolving towards broadband services with download speeds above 30 Mbps (megabits per second).

Around 84% of subscribers had access to fixed connections of this speed in 2024, up from 69% at the end of 2023. Meanwhile, 42% of subscribers have connections with speeds above 100 Mbps, up from 28% in 2023.

According to AKEP, the significant increase in the number of subscribers who have access to fixed connections with speeds of more than 100 Mbps is a very positive indicator in terms of achieving the objectives of the

foreseen in the national plan for high and very high speed broadband digital infrastructure throughout the country.

Operators invested 5.2 billion lek

According to data from the Electronic and Postal Communications Authority (AKEP), it is estimated that mobile and fixed service operators invested around 5.2 billion lek, an increase of 16% compared to the previous year.

Based on AKEP data, during 2024, mobile service entrepreneurs invested around 2.3 billion lek, 29% more compared to the previous year.

About 93% of the reported investment value has gone towards improving the infrastructure for broadband provision by mobile networks.

Mobile service consumption figures continue to show a long-term trend of concentration of these services on the internet and the decline of voice call and text messaging services.

For the first quarter of 2025, data (internet) traffic increased by 8.8% compared to a year earlier, while average monthly data usage per user increased by 8.6%.

These figures show that communication is increasingly shifting to OTT, internet-based applications.

Meanwhile, the number of mobile internet users has reached approximately 2.1 million, up slightly by 0.4% annually. AKEP estimates that Albanians consume an average of about 9 GB of internet per month from mobile networks.

Since late last year, mobile operators have begun offering 5G internet service in the capital and in specific locations around the country. 5G networks have higher transmission capacities and are expected to bring increased data volumes via mobile networks.

Meanwhile, fixed network entrepreneurs have made around 2.9 billion lek investments in their networks, a figure that slightly increased by 5% compared to a year ago.

According to operator reports, last year, investments were mainly channeled towards improving access to broadband services, around 87% of the total, with the main investments focusing on the migration of transmission networks from technology.

DSL to fiber technology. Currently, about 69% of internet connections from fixed networks rely on fiber optic technology. The latest AKEP data shows that the number of internet subscribers from fixed lines for the first quarter of 2025 reached approximately 681 thousand, an increase of 7.1% compared to the same period a year ago./Monitor.al