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The number of mobile users fell again in the third quarter of 2025

2026-01-13 07:13:24, Aktualitet CNA

The number of mobile phone users declined again in the third quarter of last year.

According to data from the Electronic and Postal Communications Authority (AKEP), the total number of subscribers (expressed as the number of SIM cards) fell to 3.39 million, 10.2% less compared to a year earlier. The number of active users (those who have used their number in the last three months) also fell to 2.75 million, 2.1% less compared to the third quarter of last year.

In fact, the decline in the number of mobile phone users appears to be a long-term trend. Over the course of a decade, the number of active mobile phone users has fallen by approximately 30%.

In the long term, the decline in the number of users is related to internal market dynamics, but also to demographic factors. The number of mobile operators has decreased from four to two, while it is increasingly rare for a user to have more than one mobile number. This trend was quite widespread until about a decade ago, before the price differentiation for on-net and off-net calls was banned.

Another factor that may have influenced the number of users in recent years is the agreement to abolish roaming fees in the Western Balkan countries. Since a good portion of foreign visitors to Albania come from neighboring countries, they no longer need to use Albanian numbers for their communication while in Albania.

Always in the long term, negative demographic trends and population shrinkage can also partially explain the decline in the number of active users.

Meanwhile, in a shorter-term comparison horizon, especially the third quarter of the year, it can be a kind of indirect indicator of tourism. Generally, foreign tourists use domestic SIM cards for communication, especially for internet service.

This brings a seasonal increase in the number of users during the third quarter of the year. However, during 2025, the number of active users decreased compared to the previous year, which can be explained by a smaller amount of numbers used by foreign tourists.

Meanwhile, total mobile call traffic also fell by 0.5% compared to the third quarter of 2024. While the number of text messages decreased by 6.1% compared to a year earlier. However, this is a long-term trend, mainly related to the replacement of calls and messages made by networks with internet-based applications, such as WhatsApp.

This is confirmed by the continued rapid growth of internet traffic from mobile networks. According to AKEP, during the third quarter of 2025, data traffic from these networks increased by 19.8% compared to the previous year. The average internet consumption per user increased to 10.41 GB (gigabytes) of internet per month, an increase of 21.2% compared to the same period a year ago.

The increase in internet usage may also be partly linked to the launch of service provision via 5G technology networks. 5G networks enable greater data transmission capacities and higher internet speeds from mobile networks./ Monitor.al