Moldova registers essential progress in developing telecommunications and informatics market

Moldova registers an essential progress in developing the telecommunications and informatics market, the regional representative of the International Telecommunications Union (UIT), Valeri Timofeev, reported about this. The expert participated at the three-day European seminar on the topic „Telecommunications liberalization: problems and opportunities for Eastern European states, CIS and Baltic countries”, starting its activity on Tuesday, 20 June, in Chisinau. According to Timofeev, Moldova „entered” the phase of market economy relations, allowing investments in IT. The deputy manager of the National Agency for Telecommunications and Information Regulation (ANRTI), Stanislav Gordea, said that the aim of the seminar is exchanging experience with the European countries and identifying opportunities for a liberalized market. RM has already „some experience” in the activity of a liberalized market, but there are still some problems regarding the relations between operators with significant power on the market and the new ones, access to infrastructure, interconnection of networks and services, and their inter-operability, the population’s access to these services, promoting competition on a liberalized market, stimulating investments, stimulating and promoting new services and technologies. According to Gordea, this market is rather complicated, as technologies and services develop very quickly, and the legislation does not manage oftenly to keep up with this development. The minister of informational development, Vladimir Molojen, noted that RM showed lately its activity for the investments in this field. The pace of IT development, as well as the indicators gained over the last 5 years equals Moldova with many European countries. Now, there are 27 phone points per 1,000 inhabitants, and over 1 million beneficiaries on the market of mobile phone operators. Compared to 2004, in 2005 the value of the market of telecommunications and informatics services has increased by 36.8% and got up to 3,64 billion lei. This increase is mainly due to the increase of the volume of investments, implementation of technologies providing Internet access services, applying modern technologies in mobile GSM networks, reduction of tariffs to mobile telephony services, as well as the increase of the quality of provided services. About 90 communications regulation representatives and authorities from 14 countries, UIT, World Bank experts and those of the Regional Communications Community are participating at the seminar „Telecommunications liberalization: problems and opportunities for Eastern Europe states, CIS and Baltic countries”.