“Moldtelecom” to launch 3G mobile communications network

The national communications operator SA Moldtelecom, which provides CDMA2000 mobile phone services under the UNITE brand, will launch a 3G mobile communications network by this yearend, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting the company's press service. Vitalie Iurcu, the director general of Moldtelecom, said that when the 3G network is launched, the clients of Unite will benefit from advanced voice sand data transportation services and from two new services – mobile video telephony and TV mobile. Iurcu also said that the works to prepare the 3G network are carried out according to plan and the first batch of equipment supplied by the Chinese company Huawei Tech. Investment Co. LTD will be installed early in October. Huawei won the tender contest for the supply of 3G equipment held on May 14, 2009 by SA Moldtelecom. Three more companies took part in the contest without paying the participation tax. These were LM Ericsson International AB, Alcatel Lucent Romania SA and SIS Solutions&Service. The tender commission chose Huawei because it offered twice lower costs than the other companies and met most of the requirements. Huawei is one of the largest producers of 3G equipment in the world. In the first half of this year, the company's turnover was US$18 billion. Huawei built the 3G network in Moldova of SA Orange Moldova. SA Moldtelecom won a license to use radio frequencies for providing 3G mobile electronic communications services and networks on December 30, 2008. It paid the license tax of US$8 million in Moldovan lei. The tax was fixed by the Government of Moldova. Under the license conditions, the company is obliged to cover the municipalities of Chisinau and Balti with its 3G network by the end of the first year of the launch of the services, the municipality of Comrat and the towns of Cahul, Orhei, Ungheni and Soroca – by the end of the second year, and the other 29 district centers – by the end of the third year. After the third year, SA Moldtelecom must cover the entire territory of Moldova, according to the demand.