National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology of the Republic of Moldova

In 2009, the value of the market of Internet access services at fixed locations grew by 34,7% over 2008, the total value being 436,4 mil. lei. This is the highest turnover registered in the recent five years by data service providers, as shown in a report on the developments on this market by the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI).

The most significant values of sales on this market were registered by companies MOLDTELECOM, Starnet and ORANGE-Moldova, which in December 2008 acquired company Telemedia Group. The turnover is distributed as follows:
SA MOLDTELECOM – 298,8 mil. lei,
Starnet – 40,5 mil. lei, and
ORANGE Moldova – 23,8 mil. lei.

The increase in the volume of sales was mainly determined by the increase in the number of subscribers to broadband Internet access services and by the widening of the range of services, proposed by providers.

According to the report, the number of subscribers to Internet at fixed locations reached 203,5 thousand, which is a 30,6% increase over 2008. Out of this number, over 187 thousand (91,86%) are broadband Internet subscribers and 16,5 thousand (8,14%) – dial-up subscribers. In comparison with 2008, the number of broadband Internet subscribers increased by 62,4%, whereas the number of dial-up subscribers reduced by half. This change is caused by the higher availability of broadband services, by the lower tariffs for final users and by the substitution of Dial-up services by broadband Internet at fixed and mobile locations.

In 2009 the penetration rate of Internet access services at fixed locations per 100 residents was 5,70%, which is a 1,33 percentage points increase. As for broadband Internet, this indicator is 5,23%, which id 2 percentage points increase. Though the later indicator went up, its value is still insignificant if compared to the indicator of European countries, where the average penetration rate of broadband Internet access exceeds 23,5%. The Agency specialists explain this situation of broadband by the existing gap between Chisinau mun. and other parts of the country. More than half of the subscribers to those services reside in the capital. So, in Chisinau the number of subscribers per 100 households exceeds 40%, whereas in the majority of country districts this indicator varies between 8 and 15%.

ADSL is still the most widely-spread technology for broadband Internet access at fixed locations. In 2009, about 76% of all broadband connections were ADSL-based, the rest being through optical fiber (FTTB), TV cable and radio access (WLL).

In 2009, 50 companies on the market provided Internet access at fixed locations. By number of subscribers, SA MOLDTELECOM had the most significant market share – 71,5%, followed by „Starnet” LLC – 15,5%, „SUN Communications” LLC – 4,4% and SA „ORANGE-Moldova” – 1%. The remaining 46 providers share 7,6 % of this market.

Last year, 3G license holders SA ”MOLDCELL”, SA „ORANGE-Moldova” and SA ”MOLDTELECOM” provided mobile Internet access based on HSPA and EV-DO technologies, the number of users, as per the end of 2009, was 80 thousand.

Other data regarding the evolution of the Internet access market in 2009 are available on the agency web site: www.anrceti.md, „Statistical Data”.

March 2, 2010