The trade unions are categorically against the privatization of the national telecoms carrier Moldtelecom. Related statements were made by the administration of the National Confederation of Trade Unions of Moldova following Economy Ministry Valeriu Lazar’s announcement that the roadmap for the company’s privatization may be ready in 3-4 months, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting a communiqué from the Confederation. The Confederation’s head Oleg Budza said an organization is privatized when it is not profitable and the state cannot develop it, but Moldtelecom yields profits of millions of lei and advances. Thus, privatization in this case is useless. According to the head of the Federation of Communications Trade Unions Ion Pargaru, Moldova is now a leader in the region as regards phone penetration in urban and rural areas, while Moldtelecom is the first company in the region that implemented the triple play service – telephone, television and internet in a package. “The world experience shows the privatization of such companies as Moldtelecom leads to massive layoffs, rise in the prices of services, reduction in the services intended for socially vulnerable groups, and contributes to the diminution of the telecommunications development rate in rural areas,” said Pargaru. “The entrepreneurs who purchase such companies are interested only in obtaining profit and it is rather improbable that they will concentrate their efforts on the implementation of modern telecommunications services in rural areas or in schools.” As it was announced earlier, the roadmap for the privatization of Moldtelecom is to be worked out by the International Finance Corporation, at the request of the Ministry of Economy. The Corporation’s experts will analyze the company‘s position in the national telecommunications market and the situation in the region and propose three-four possible methods of denationalizing it.