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

The Administrative Board of the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI) approved, in a public session on Tuesday, September 15, 2015, the decisions on ex-ante regulatory remedies on the market for wholesale termination segments of leased lines (market 6) and wholesale trunk segments of leased lines (market 8), regardless of the technology used for the provision of leased or dedicated capacity, by which the regulator decided to maintain the ex-ante remedies previously imposed on Moldtelecom in connection with its significant market power on both markets. The remedies have been established by Board Decisions No.35, and 36 accordingly, on 20.12.2011.

At the beginning of this week the amount of ported phone numbers in Moldova exceeded 100 thousand. "This figure shows that telephone users in Moldova fully benefit from the facility introduced by ANRCETI on the electronic communications market in 2013 and retain their phone numbers when switching telephone providers.

In the second quarter of this year, the cumulative volume of sales of electronic communications services (mobile telephony, dedicated broadband access, fixed telephony, Internet access at fixed locations, broadcasting and retransmission of audiovisual programs and other activities) constituted 1 billion 755,5 million lei, which is 0,7% increase compared to the same period of 2014 and 4% compared to the first quarter of 2015. These data are included in the Report on progress of electronic communications market evolution in the second quarter of 2015, published on the Website of the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI).

In the first half of 2015, the market for fixed Internet access continued to grow in terms of revenues and number of subscribers. The statistics published by the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI) shows that in this period the amount of sales of fixed Internet access services increased over the same period of last year by 63,4 million lei (+14%) and exceeded 517 million lei, while the number of subscribers to these services increased by over 9,1 thousand (+1.8%) and totaled over 518,4 thousand.

In the first half of the year, the use of fixed telephone services continued to decline, both in the number of subscribers and voice traffic. Statistical data on the evolution of the fixed telephony market for this period, published on the official website of the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI) show that the number of subscribers decreased compared to the end of 2014, by about 9,5 thousand (0,8%) and constituted about 1 million 208,8 thousand, while total voice traffic – by 21,4% to 1 billion 76,9 million minutes.

In the first half of 2015 the number of mobile broadband users (via 3G and 4G networks, modems/cards/USB dedicated access) increased since the end of 2014 by more than 51,2 thousand (+ 4,3%) and made about 1,2 mil., most of whom are users of 3G services. These are statistical data on quarterly mobile broadband evolution, published today on the official website of the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI).

The statistics on mobile market developments, published today on the official website of the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI), show that in the first half of 2015, the voice traffic continued to grow along with slightly increasing revenue from these services. The total volume of traffic in mobile networks increased 5%, compared with the same period of 2014, and exceeded 3,1 billion minutes, while mobile revenues increased 2,2% and totaled about 1 billion 731 million lei.

Today, August 17, the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI) celebrates its 15th anniversary of regulatory activity in the electronic communications and IT sector, one of the most dynamic sectors of the national economy. ANRCETI Director Grigore Varanita believes that the Agency team, starting in 2000 in a field still unknown to many, came across multiple challenges throughout the 15-year period, in order to currently become a mature regulator of a specific market.

The National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI) revoked, through its decisions, the right to provide electronic communications networks and services from companies ALIT, MBI-COMREŢ and NECCOM GRUP, previously granted by general authorization, as they failed to remove the circumstances that led to the suspension of this right. Based on an ANRCETI decision, the court issued a ruling that revoked the right of company ALIT to provide electronic communications networks and services, while the other two decisions are pending in court.

The National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI) has placed on its website for public consultations, four draft Administrative Board Decisions for the auction of licenses for the use of radio frequencies 1900-1920 MHz, 1920-1980/2110-2170 MHz and 2010-2025 MHz, conventionally named the 2100 MHz frequency band, in the provision of public electronic communications terrestrial mobile services. The consultation will last through July 30, 2015, which is the deadline for recommendations on the proposed draft documents.