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

On October 29, the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI) implemented the general authorization regime for the provision of postal services. In the following one-month timeframe, the first 26 entrepreneurs, intending to provide postal services, submitted their notifications to ANRCETI and were recorded in the Public Register of postal service providers. Thus, they obtained the legal right to provide services on this market. Most of these entrepreneurs had provided such services before the new legal regime entered in force, while four of them are new entrants.

In nine months of 2016, the market for Internet access at fixed locations continued its growing trend both by number of subscribers and by revenues from these services. The statistical data, aggregated by the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI), show that in this timeframe the number of fixed Internet access subscribers increased by over 14,2 thousand (+2,6%) up to a total of 548,5 thousand, while the revenues on this market went up, compared to the same timeframe of 2015, by 44,4 mil. lei (+5,7%) reaching 823,7 mil. lei.

The statistical data about the evolution of the fixed telephony market in nine months of 2016, aggregated by the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI), show that the number of subscribers, the voice traffic and the revenues on this market followed the negative trend of the recent years. The number of subscribers decreased compared to the end of 2015, by 16,7 thousand (-1,4%) and totaled 1 million 186 thousand. The voice traffic in fixed networks decreased compared to the same period of 2015, by 196 million minutes (-12,4%) and totaled 1 billion 386 million minutes, while the total revenues of services decreased by 92,3 million (-12,1%) and showed 672,3 million lei.

The Administrative Board of the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI) announced for Thursday, December 1, 2016, at 10:00, a public session for examination and approval of draft (.pdf) Decision on regulatory preventive measures for Market 9 - traffic transit in public telephone networks. The session will take place at ANRCETI office (134 Stefan cel Mare bd., 5^th floor, Conference Room).

In nine months of 2016, the number of mobile broadband users (via smartphones and modems/cards/USB - dedicated access, 3G and 4G-based technologies) increased compared to the end of 2015, by over 321,8 thousand (+22%) and exceeded 1 million 777,8, show the statistical data aggregated by the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI). Following this increase, the rate of mobile broadband penetration per 100 inhabitants reached 50 percent, which means that on average, every second citizen of the Republic uses those services.

In nine months of 2016, the total revenue from mobile services fell slightly against the slight increase in the number of users and the sharp decrease of voice traffic they generated. The statistical data aggregated by the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI) show that in nine months the number of mobile users grew by over 42 thousand (+1%) up to a total of 4 million 365,5 thousand. The volume of voice traffic dropped compared to the same timeframe of 2015, by 106,4 million minutes (-2,3%) to a total of 4 billion 629,2 million minutes, while the turnover on these market segments decreased by 74,6 million lei (-2,8%) to about 2 billion 639,7 million lei.

Starting January 1, 2017, the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI) of Moldova will serve as Chairman of the Eastern Partnership Electronic Communications Regulators Network (EaPeReg) and the National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM) from Romania – as Vice-Chairman of the Network. The decision on electing ANRCETI and ANCOM for these positions was approved at the Plenary Session of the EaPeReg Network on Tuesday, November 22, 2016, in Bucharest.

On November 21 - 22, 2016, a team of specialists from the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology, headed by Director Grigore Varanita, are taking part in two events organized by Eastern Partnership Electronic Communications Regulators Network (EaPeReg): a Workshop on International Roaming and EaPeReg Plenary Meeting. The events are taking place in Bucharest, with the support of the European Commission (EC) and the National Authority for Management and Regulation of Communications (ANCOM) from Romania.

The financing mechanism for compensating the net cost of universal postal service provision, approved by Government Decision no.1237 of 11.11.2016, entered in force on November 18, 2016, the date when it was published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Moldova. The document was drafted under the provisions of the Law on Postal Communications (Law no. 36/2016), by the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI) and aims to mitigate any financial losses incurred by the universal postal service provider.

The National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI) gives notice to providers of such services as collection, transportation and distribution of postal items, including parcels and other postal services in Moldova and who wish to continue those postal service activities, to notify ANRCETI of their intention, within the timeframe October 29 - November 29, 2016, in order to be included in the public register of postal service providers and legally obtain the right to provide postal services.