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) issued a number of decisions to abrogate the documents, under which numbering resources were previously assigned to three providers ("TECHNOBRIDGE M", "SWS SOFT" "ITSC INT "), for the reason that none of the allocated numbering resources had been used for at least 12 months continuously, this being a breach of Art. 31 (3) f) of the Electronic Communications Law.

In July, it has been one year since telephone number portability became available in the Republic of Moldova. The service was launched on July 1, 2013 in mobile networks and on July 31, 2013 – in fixed line networks. According to the data of the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI), a total of 44 720 numbers were ported, which means that 40 376 (90%) mobile and 4 344 (10%) fixed telephone numbers changed networks, not owners.

The National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI) launched public consultations on draft (doc. in state language) amendments to ANRCETI Administrative Board Decision no.126 of 02.06.2009, on establishing the categories of radio frequencies, the use of which in the republic of Moldova is not subject to general authorization and is allowed without a license or technical permit. The consultations are scheduled to last through July 15, 2014, which is the closing date of the consultations.

On Thursday, June 19, the Central Court, Chisinau, issued a judgment by which acknowledged that company "Starnet Solutions" LLC committed an offense under Art. 248 (2) of the Code of Contraventions (unlicensed use of numbering resources for the provision of electronic communications networks and/or services) and imposed a fine of 400 conventional units, which is equivalent to 8 000 MDL to be paid to the state. By this decision the court rejected the appeal filed by the mentioned company against Report No. 23 of 05.05.2014, sent to court by the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI).

The National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI) exposed on its web site, for public consultation, draft (doc. in state language) Administrative Board Decision on limiting the number of licenses for the use of radio frequencies in the bands 791-821/832-862 MHz, 890-915/935-960 MHz and 1710-1785/1805-1880 MHz. The consultation will run through July 2, 2014, which is the deadline for submitting recommendations on the project.

Starting today, June 17, a group of ANRCETI specialists are taking part in a three-day TAIEX Workshop, hosted in Chisinau. The event covers issues related to regulation of the use of numbering resources and harmonization of certain aspects of regulations applicable in the Republic of Moldova with EU requirements. The workshop is delivered by an expert from Belgium regulatory authority and funded by the EC.

Statistical data on broadband access subscribers and technologies, published on the official website of the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI) show that in the first qtr. of 2014 the number of new mobile broadband subscribers (via modems and data cards) registered a higher growth rate than the number of fixed broadband subscribers: it increased by 11,2 thousand (+4,3%) and exceeded 270,8 thousand, the number of fixed broadband subscribers – by 12,4 thousand (+2,7%) thousand and exceeded 479,5 thousand.

The statistical data about the evolution of the fixed line market published by the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI) shows that in the first quarter of the year, the revenues from fixed telephony services continued to decrease against the slight increase in the number of subscribers. Particularly, it made 253,9 million lei, which is a 9% decrease compared to the same timeframe of 2013 (-25,2 million lei). The number of fixed line subscribers grew slightly - 0,1% (964 subscribers) and made 1 million 222,4 thousand.

In the first quarter of 2014, the number of mobile users increased by 280,9 thousand or 6,7% over the same period of last year and exceeded 4 million 492 thousand, while the penetration rate of these services per one hundred inhabitants increased by 8,0% and reached approximately 126,3%, according to the data of the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI) on the development of the mobile telephony market in the first quarter of 2014.

On May 28, 2014, The Supreme Court of Justice issued a ruling on inadmissibility of the appeals filed by JV "Eventis Mobile" LLC and "Iulerom" LLC against the ruling of the Court of Appeal (December 17, 2013), by which the Court maintained the judgment of Ciocana Court (09.09.2013), which confirmed the legality and validity of the actions taken by the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI) related to withdrawal of the license of JV "Eventis Mobile" LLC for the provision of mobile GSM cell services.