Romania is the biggest market in the region for TP-Link, which has a presence in four other Balkan countries – Bulgaria, Albania, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“We had 22% growth in revenue in Romania to almost RON40 million. The growth in volume was lower because we focused on medium and high priced equipment. Demand for such equipment – dual band routers, Wi-Fi range extenders, AC routers and power line wireless adapters, started rising,” Dragos Jurca, sales manager with TP-Link Romania, told ZF.
Although TP-Link delivered fewer pieces of equipment in Romania than the about 500,000 initially estimated last year, the Chinese-held company preserved its market share at 60% to 65% and remained the leader of the networking equipment market in the country.
“We did not deliver 500,000 pieces of equipment, but as many as in 2015 – more than 450,000,” Jurca said.
Sales in Romania account for more than 55% of the total TP-Link deliveries in the region. TP-Link officials estimated more than 1 million devices to be delivered last year.
“The other Balkan countries saw growth, some even doubled figures, but Romania remains the biggest market in the region,” he added.
TP-Link has also expanded by entering the market of smart home devices and smartphones. It budgeted at least 10% growth this year but that depends on how the rest of the year goes, after a decline of the overall market in the first quarter.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)