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

The number of individuals and businesses, who requested ANRCETI to provide assistance throughout 2014, increased by 31.9%, reaching more than 780, according to a report on complaints received by ANRCETI last year. This is mainly due to the significant increase in the number of citizens calling ANRCETI free information hotline – 080080080 to address complaints.

This number increased by more than 220%, from 8 in 2013 to 191 in 2014. This was largely due to the information campaign launched by ANRCETI "Know your rights as a consumer of electronic communications services". In most cases, callers requested clarifications for the causes of failures in services provision, for billing services, for cases of price increase for electronic communications services. ANRCETI Specialists provided explanations and recommendations on how to solve the problems, as well as useful information and tips for a better understanding of the services and offers on the market.

According to the report, in 2014 ANRCETI specialists responded to 207 requests for access to information, 214 requests for technical, legal and economic expertise, 162 complaints and 10 appeals forwarded during hearings. 128 complaints came from consumers and 34 – from providers of electronic communications services.

The analysis of issues complained about shows an increase in the number of claims on billing and veracity of billing data included in invoices (45 complaints) and higher tariffs for some services (11 complaints). At the same time, there has been a decrease in the number of complaints regarding abusive actions of providers as regards porting of numbers (6 complaints), illegal disconnections (11 complaints), quality of telephone services and Internet access (20 complaints). Biggest number of complaints were received from consumers of "Moldtelecom" (65 complaints), JSC "Orange Moldova" (19 complaints), SA "Moldcell" (14 complaints), JV "Sun Communications" SRL (11 complaints).

After the examination of complaints, it was found that 36 of the total of 162 complaints were well-founded, 76 were groundless. The signatories of 18 complaints were provided with explanations, four complaints were submitted by competence to other authorities, one – withdrawn by the complainant, seven – are pending and 20 complaints were rejected as being non-compliant with the legislation. The report also shows that most of the well-grounded complaints were solved in favor of consumers, whereas in other cases ANRCETI proposed alternative solutions to address the issues.

Under the legislation in force, ANRCETI examines complaints from natural and legal persons, within its competence. If the provider of electronic communications services fails to respond to a consumer’s complaint, within the timeframe established by law, or, if the consumer is dissatisfied with the solution, he has the right to address the issue to ANRCETI or to court.

January 29, 2015