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

The National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI – www.anrceti.md) has placed on its website, for public consultations, draft Administrative Board Decisions on identification of two relevant markets – the market of call origination at a fixed location in the public telephone network and the market of traffic transit (documents in state language) in public telephone networks. The consultations will run until July 30, 2010, this being the deadline for submitting recommendations.

The draft Decisions have been developed pursuant to 51 of the Law on Electronic Communications and in accordance with the provisions of the Regulations on identification and analysis of relevant market in electronic communications and designations of providers of electronic communications networks and/or services with significant market power on those markets. The first draft decision is based on the Analysis of the market of call origination market at a fixed location in the public telephone network, whereas the second – on the Analysis of the market of traffic transit in public fixed telephone networks. The analyses were consulted by the international experts from the technical assistance project offered to the agency by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The Explanatory Note to the first draft specifies that the relevant product market comprises call origination services in fixed networks both locally and nationally, and the Explanatory Note to the second draft states that the product market includes national and local transit services for all types of calls on the network segment between two or more interconnection points. The geographic market of the two markets includes the entire territory of R. Moldova.

The analysis of the mentioned markets identified barriers to entry for alternative providers, lack of effective competition and insufficiency of the Law on Competition Protection in overcoming these failures. The authors have concluded that the given markets are susceptible to ex-ante regulation.

After the two aforementioned drafts are approved, the Agency experts will perform full analysis of the two markets to determine which suppliers have significant power and establish special ex-ante obligations to be imposed.

Interested persons may submit comments and recommendations on draft decisions under consultations to the e-mail address: office@anrceti.md. Phone number: 251-337.

July 9, 2010