Bulgaria Communications - 2024

Telephones - fixed lines

total subscriptions: 691,270 (2022 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 11 (2021 est.)

Telephones - mobile cellular

total subscriptions: 7,902,756 (2021 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 115 (2021 est.)

Telecommunication systems

general assessment:

Bulgaria’s telecom market was for some years affected by the difficult macroeconomic climate, as well as by relatively high unemployment and a shrinking population; these factors continue to slow investments in the sector, though revenue growth has returned since 2019; there still remains pressure on revenue growth, with consumers migrating from fixed-line voice telephony to mobile and VoIP alternatives, while the volume of SMS and MMS traffic has been affected by the growing use of alternative OTT messaging services; investing in network upgrades and its development of services based on 5G have stimulated other market players to invest in their own service provision; by the end of 2022 about 70% of the population is expected to be covered by 5G; the broadband market in Bulgaria enjoys excellent cross-platform competition; the share of the market held by DSL has fallen steadily as a result of customers being migrated to fiber networks; by early 2021 about 65% of fixed-line broadband subscribers were on fiber infrastructure; Bulgaria joins the U.S. State Department’s Clean Network initiative in a bid to protect its 5G communications networks

(2022)

domestic: fixed-line over 11 per 100 persons, mobile-cellular teledensity, fostered by multiple service providers, is over 115 telephones per 100 persons (2021)

international: country code - 359; Caucasus Cable System via submarine cable provides connectivity to Ukraine, Georgia and Russia; a combination submarine cable and land fiber-optic system provides connectivity to Italy, Albania, and Macedonia; satellite earth stations - 3 (1 Intersputnik in the Atlantic Ocean region, 2 Intelsat in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean regions) (2019)

Broadcast media

4 national terrestrial TV stations with 1 state-owned and 3 privately owned; a vast array of TV stations are available from cable and satellite TV providers; state-owned national radio broadcasts over 3 networks; large number of private radio stations broadcasting, especially in urban areas

Internet country code

.bg

Internet users

total: 5.175 million (2021 est.)

percent of population: 75% (2021 est.)

Broadband - fixed subscriptions

total: 2,115,053 (2020 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 30 (2020 est.)