2010 was a year of success for Moldtelecom. Info-Prim Neo interview with GM Vitalie Iurcu

[IPN: Which was the distinctive sign of Moldtelecom's activity in 2010?] [Vitalie Iurcu:] In 2010, Moldtelecom was a company in transformation. Our main activity was focused on transforming the company from an operator based on infrastructure monopoly to an open, flexible and dynamic company, oriented towards maximally meeting the demands of our clients through the development of a portfolio of alternative services, in addition to the classical offer of fixed telephony. This transformation has been dictated by growing competition on the telecommunications market in Moldova and is seen as crucial for fulfilling the company's three major priorities: cut costs, upgrade services, enhance relations with the clients. For these purposes, the management of the company adopted a Product Strategy covering 2010-2014, which involves improving corporate culture, improving business practices, keeping the leading position on the market and focusing on investment. The strategy includes objectives and targets for each branch of activity: landline and mobile telephony, Internet, IPTV television services, and interconnection services. Against the background of last year's economic crisis, Moldtelecom managed nevertheless to invest over 800 million lei in the development of its networks and in new services, significantly diversifying the range of offers for Moldtelecom's clients. The largest part of the invested money was channeled into the modernization of the voice technology and data transport. And our efforts have borne fruit: I can say that 2010 was a revolutionary year with respect to implementation and launching of new and unique services on the Moldovan communications market. Due to the consistent policies followed by the company, Moldtelecom managed in a short period of time not only to successfully overcome the difficult economic situation, but also to assert itself on the domestic market with the most advanced services provided across the entire country: growing access to broadband Internet services; a platform of on-line services called my.Moldtelecom.md, with the most advances services, like hosting, file-sharing, tube, web games and streaming; digital IPTV television services, which is the most state-of-the-art, most popular service; HD television services; and Unité 3G services. [IPN: Nearly all the activities that you've mentioned require significant investment and adoption of new technologies...] [Vitalie Iurcu:] It's true. To launch the digital television services in February, which marked Moldtelecom's entry to the market of multimedia content services, around 55 million lei was invested. By doing this, we offered our clients across the country impeccable quality through the most advanced digital television technology, based on optical fibers and existing landlines. On December 7, Moldtelecom has made a new leap in the area of television: we are the first to introduce digital HD television in Moldova. This means a new package of TV channels in HD format, in addition to the digital television service, which includes the most popular TV channels: Discovery Showcase HD, Eurosport HD, Fashion HD, Bebe TV HD and the local channel Jurnal TV HD. The package is available across the entire country. The main features of HD television are: a clearer image, up to five times greater resolution compared to standard television and a sound comparable to what you hear in movie theaters. With the launch of high-definition digital television, Moldtelecom is offering its clients top-quality content at the highest technical standards and at the most affordable prices on the market. Another significant step forward made by the national operator Moldtelecom in 2010 was the launch of third-generation mobile services under the UNITÉ brand, based on the 3G/UMTS technology, with a coverage enough to satisfy most users in Moldova. For the implementation of the 3G network, Moldtelecom spent 245 million lei, offering its clients a new standard of communication – the UMTS standard – which embodies mobile solutions both for CDMA2000 and UMTS/3G standards. Unité 3G helped us expand Moldtelecom's portfolio of voice and Internet services destined for the most mobile clients of our company from all the towns, shopping complexes and many smaller settlements. Shortly after this, Moldtelecom announced another novelty for the domestic market: the platform of on-line services my.Moldtelecom.md, which offers services for modern-day needs, like e-mail, hosting, file-sharing, tube, web-games and streaming, to all Internet users in the country, with Moldtelecom clients being favored. Using to the platform my.Moldtelecom.md, Internet users can interact easier and cheaper with each other, host personal web pages of up to 1GB on Moldtelecom's servers for free, upload and send files of up to 1GB, watch the newest video spots on various themes, and transfer multimedia content in real time. We will further advance these services to enhance client loyalty. After advancing the on-line market, Moldtelecom is revolutionizing the market of mobile and landline communications by introducing absolutely novel packages of convergent (mixed) fixed and mobile services: Unité Familia. The new integrated subscription packages offer clients across the country opportunities to manage the family budget more efficiently, by using a combination of voice and data services provided for the fixed and mobile phone, based on a single subscription and at affordable rates. By becoming Unité subscribers, the members of a family will have the unique opportunity to create their own communication network, which will allow them to talk for free with each other both on the mobile and fixed phone. Concurrently with these innovations, Moldtelecom continued to improve the quality of the existent services of landline telephony and broadband Internet. The effort was appreciated by Moldtelecom's clients, and the company saw a rise of 11,000 in the number of fixed telephony subscribers and of 47,000 in the number of broadband Internet subscribers. So, as of December 1, Moldtelecom had around 1.6 million subscribers of Internet, fixed and mobile services. [IPN: Moldtelecom has earned a reputation for its social projects. Did they continue in 2010?] [Vitalie Iurcu:] Yes, of course, in 2010 Moldtelecom continued its efforts to improve the state of Moldovan society, and they manifested in a number of social projects carried out by the company. For example, Moldtelecom carried out financial assistance projects for a number of important institutions in Moldova's education system: the orphanage in Cernoleuca, the boarding school in Visoca village, Soroca district, kindergarten no.1 in Bubuieci, the contest “iTineret: Future Starts with You” organized by the Education Ministry, the boarding school in Straseni, kindergarten no.119, etc. Moldtelecom also contributed actively to the restoration of sacred buildings in the country which represent important architectural monuments: Curchi Monastery, Holy Trinity Monastery in Frumoasa village, St.Gheorghe Monastery in Suruceni village, St. Nicoale Church in Minjir village, St. Petru Movila Church in Dumbrava, St. Gherorghe Church and St. Stelian Church in Chisinau. In recognition of its merits in support of churches, an important ecclesiastical distinction was conferred on Moldtelecom's administration in November. Also, Moldtelecom contributed to the promotion of sport and cultural events in the country by supporting the National Chess Federation, the civil association “Junior”, Eugene Ionesco Theater, the Radiosport Federation, Media Sport, the Writers Union, the Choir Music Association, etc. Moldtelecom was among the first companies in the country to promptly respond to the sufferings of the people affected by last summer's floods. Together with its employees, Moldtelecom offered financial and logistical support valued at 1.6 million lei for disaster relief efforts. In addition, there were opened two special telephone lines to raise funds from the company's clients. So, in the course of 2010 Moldtelecom offered support to Moldovan society by contributing to social events, charity projects, artistic, sports and education activities, to a total amount of 4 million lei. [IPN: What does Moldtelecom expect from the next year?] [Vitalie Iurcu:] In 2011 we will continue to follow a strategy based on personalizing our offers, tailoring them to the needs of the clients from different segments and offering attractive rates for mixed service packages. We are confident that in this way we will persuade each family in Moldova that by choosing Moldtelecom services, they will spend their money in the wisest way possible. And by constantly involving itself in the social life at community level, Moldtelecom wishes to demonstrate with concrete facts its policy, which is based on the principle “closer to people, to community”. Our company wishes to be, apart from a strong brand, a reliable partner for Moldovan society. As a company with respect for its clients, representatives of Moldovan society, we want to act in their best interest.