Each user in Albania spent around 6,800 lek on mobile communication services last year.
According to data from the Electronic and Postal Communications Authority (AKEP), the average spending of Albanians on these services increased by around 4.2% compared to the previous year.
This value is supported by the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) indicator and is calculated as the ratio of revenues from minority services to the total number of active users.
AKEP estimates that, considering that an increasing number of mobile services are offered in combined packages (minutes, SMS, and internet), ARPU is a more meaningful indicator in assessing user revenues.
According to comparative figures from AKEP, ARPU in 2022 in Albania was around 57.18 euros per year, while the average annual ARPU of the European Union was around 173 euros, or about three times higher in Albania.
However, the average spending of Albanians on mobile calls increased to 3.75 lek per minute last year, up 23% compared to the previous year. This value is based on the Average Revenue Per Minute (ARPM) indicator, which is calculated as the ratio of revenues from minority services to the quantity of outgoing minutes and shows the entrepreneur’s income for one minute.
From the reports conducted during 2022, providers of mobile electronic communication services reported an increase in revenues of around 4% compared to 2021. The primary weight in the total revenue growth of the market has been the increase in revenues generated by offering minority services, which increased by around 10% compared to the previous period, while wholesale revenues have declined by about 11% compared to 2021. AKEP estimates that last year, the mobile services market had a total volume of 25.4 billion lek or about 223 million euros.
Regarding the annual net financial result indicators for 2022, all three entrepreneurs reported negative financial results. According to AKEP, negative results significantly affect the operators’ ability to increase investments and improve technologies to enhance service quality for end consumers.
The reduction in the number of mobile operators in the country has begun to affect the pricing of communication packages. Mobile operators have increased the prices for basic prepaid communication packages by 100-200 lek over the past two years, but have meanwhile reduced the included communication units in them as a way to encourage users to move towards higher-priced packages.
