Communications in Moldova
Encyclopedia
The telecommunications in Moldova were an obsolete state monopoly during the Moldovan SSR. In the 1990s, it slowly began to develop new services and in the 2000s telecommunications are seeing increased market value through unexpected sales.

Landline

After the break of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

, Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...

's telecommunications facilities were very poor and remained like that until 1995 when Moldtelecom
Moldtelecom
Moldtelecom is a national telecommunications operator in Moldova. Created on April 1, 1993 as part of the national telecommunications restructuring, Moldtelecom was a state company. On January 5, 1999 Moldtelecom was reorganized and became a Joint Stock Company with the State being the unique...

 (back then was a state company) begun the upgrade process. In 1990 Moldova had an average of 11 telephones per 100 inhabitants, and there were more than 200,000 unfilled orders for telephone installation. In 1994 23,800 new telephone lines were installed, which included public phones with direct international dialing capabilities.

When in 1999 Moldtelecom
Moldtelecom
Moldtelecom is a national telecommunications operator in Moldova. Created on April 1, 1993 as part of the national telecommunications restructuring, Moldtelecom was a state company. On January 5, 1999 Moldtelecom was reorganized and became a Joint Stock Company with the State being the unique...

 became a JSC
Joint stock company
A joint-stock company is a type of corporation or partnership involving two or more individuals that own shares of stock in the company...

 the company began a process of upgrading all telephone and communication lines in the country. In 2000 approximately 435,930 new lines were installed. Overall power of telephone stations increased up to 645,000 numbers. The average number of telephones increased up to 16 telephones per 100 inhabitants. In 2008 the number of digital telephone stations increased up to 82.6% (4% in 1993).

At the end of 2010 the number of telephone lines reached 1.161 million with overall penetration of 32.6% (or 32 telephones per 100 inhabitants).

Mobile telephony

The mobile telephone market of Moldova is divided between two GSM - Orange Moldova
Orange Moldova
The Orange company operates in Moldova since April 1998, a 94.45% share of Orange Moldova belongs to France Télécom. The company is also an internet service provider and fixed voice services provider for business....

 and Moldcell
Moldcell
Moldcell is a mobile network operator in Moldova. It works in GSM and UMTS standards.- General information :Communication standard: Moldcell has a license to work in GSM standard on frequencies from 900 to 1800 MHz as well as in UMTS standard on frequency of 2100 MHz.Moldcell started its...

, and two CDMA - Unité
Unité
-General information:Communication standard: Unité has a license to work in CDMA standard on frequency of 450 MHz as well as in UMTS standard on frequency of 2100 MHz.Numbering resources:Unité network codes are: 671xxxxx 672xxxxx 673xxxxx...

 and Interdnestrcom
Interdnestrcom
Interdnestrcom is a Transnistrian telecommunication company providing mobile communication services for the unrecognized territory of Transnistria in Moldova. It was established in 1998. As well as providing mobile phone services, it also provides dial-up and ISDN internet access.- Internet...

 mobile operators. Orange Moldova has launched its network in October 1998, Moldcell
Moldcell
Moldcell is a mobile network operator in Moldova. It works in GSM and UMTS standards.- General information :Communication standard: Moldcell has a license to work in GSM standard on frequencies from 900 to 1800 MHz as well as in UMTS standard on frequency of 2100 MHz.Moldcell started its...

 in April 2000, Moldtelecom (under the trademark Unité) in March 2007.

There was a third GSM operator - Eventis
Eventis
Eventis is a mobile network operator in Moldova. Working in GSM standard on 900 and 1800 MHz frequency bands. Network was launched on 21 December 2007.Currently operator's coverage is available in Chişinău, Bălţi, Soroca, Orhei....

. It began its operations in December 2007 but on February 5th 2010 the entire network was shut down and the company declared bankruptcy.

The first million of mobile telephone users was registered in September 2005. A year and a half later the figure amounted to 1.5 million users.

In 2007 the number of mobile phone users was 1.882 million. In 2008 the number reached 2.423 million. In 2009 - 2.785 million. In 2010 - 3.165 million

At the end of Q1 2011 the number of mobile phone users reached 3.250 million with the overall penetration of 91.3%.

At the end of Q1 2011 Moldcell had 1.101 million subscribers, Orange Moldova - 2.019 million subscribers, Unité - 130,000 subscribers.

Moldcell
Moldcell
Moldcell is a mobile network operator in Moldova. It works in GSM and UMTS standards.- General information :Communication standard: Moldcell has a license to work in GSM standard on frequencies from 900 to 1800 MHz as well as in UMTS standard on frequency of 2100 MHz.Moldcell started its...

 in October 2008 was the first mobile operator in Moldova who launched the 3G standard in mobile telephony.
Orange Moldova
Orange Moldova
The Orange company operates in Moldova since April 1998, a 94.45% share of Orange Moldova belongs to France Télécom. The company is also an internet service provider and fixed voice services provider for business....

 in September 2009, Moldova was the first country in the world to launch high-definition voice services (HD voice) for mobile phones, and the first country in Europe to launch 14,4 Mbit/s mobile broadband at a national scale, with over 40% population coverage.

Internet

At the end of 2009 there were around 1,295,000 internet users and 186,700 broadband subscribers in Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...

 with overall internet penetration of 29.9%. In 2004 there were 183 Internet Cafes registered in Chişinău
Chisinau
Chișinău is the capital and largest municipality of Moldova. It is also its main industrial and commercial centre and is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bîc...

, that number has significantly decreased in later years.

In 2010 there were 5 main Internet Service Providers in the country - Moldtelecom
Moldtelecom
Moldtelecom is a national telecommunications operator in Moldova. Created on April 1, 1993 as part of the national telecommunications restructuring, Moldtelecom was a state company. On January 5, 1999 Moldtelecom was reorganized and became a Joint Stock Company with the State being the unique...

, StarNet
StarNet
StarNet is a Moldovan Internet service provider. The company provides Internet services via ADSL and FTTB...

, SunCommunications
SunCommunications
SunCommunications is a Moldovan Internet and Digital/Cable TV service provider. The company was founded in 1993.- Services :*Digital/Cable TV...

, Orange
Orange Moldova
The Orange company operates in Moldova since April 1998, a 94.45% share of Orange Moldova belongs to France Télécom. The company is also an internet service provider and fixed voice services provider for business....

 and Interdnestrcom
Interdnestrcom
Interdnestrcom is a Transnistrian telecommunication company providing mobile communication services for the unrecognized territory of Transnistria in Moldova. It was established in 1998. As well as providing mobile phone services, it also provides dial-up and ISDN internet access.- Internet...

 in Transnistria
Transnistria
Transnistria is a breakaway territory located mostly on a strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border to Ukraine...



The most spread internet connection type is ADSL, however in recent years internet connection via FTTB has seen a rapid increase, with ADSL holding around 62.4% of the market and FTTB around 34.2%. Average download speed throughout the country is estimated to be around 20 Mbit/s according to Ookla Net Metrics In Chişinău and some regional centers speeds of 100/100Mbit are easily available through FTTB.

Internet Usage and Broadband Subscribers. (2010)
  • Number of Users - 1,425,000
  • Number of Broadband Subscribers - 269,100
  • Penetration - 40%


Structure of Broadband Service Market, by Access Technology. (2010)
  • xDSL - 62.4%
  • Cable - 2.8%
  • FTTB/LAN - 34.2%
  • Wireless - 0.6%

Television

In 2007 there are dozens of broadcast companies in Chisinau providing analogue TV - major ones include SunTV (about 70,000 subscribers) and Satellit (about 20,000 subscribers). Smaller ones include Delta and Alfa TV
Alfa TV
Alfa TV is a premium television service available in Cyprus, that broadcasts Sports and children's programming as well as the odd film. It is owned by Alfa TV Ltd. and it launched in 1998...

.

Starting the mid-2007 - Zebra TV (provided by Arax) introduced first digital cable network in Chisinau. SunTV also launched digital TV.

Print media

The main daily newspaper in the republic, Moldova Suverana, is published by the government. Sfatul Ţării
Sfatul Tarii
Sfatul Țării was, in 1917-1918, the National Assembly of the Governorate of Bessarabia of the disintegrating Russian Empire, which proclaimed the independent Moldavian Democratic Republic in December 1917, and then union with Romania in April 1918.-Russian participation in World War I:In August...

 is published by Parliament, which also publishes the daily Nezavisimaya Moldova in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

. Other principal newspapers include Rabochiy Tiraspol' (in Russian, the main newspaper of the Slavs in Transnistria
Transnistria
Transnistria is a breakaway territory located mostly on a strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border to Ukraine...

), Ţara, Tineretul Moldovei/Molodezh Moldovy
Molodezh Moldovy
Molodezh Moldovy is a newspaper published three times per week in Chişinău, the capital of Moldova. The title is Russian for Youth of Moldova. The newspaper is published in Russian and Romanian....

 (in Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...

 and Russian), and Viaţa satului (published by the government).

The main cultural publication in Moldova is the weekly journal Literatura şi arta
Literatura şi Arta
Literatura şi Arta is a weekly newspaper from Chişinău, Moldova.- History :The first edition was printed in 1977. The first editor in chief was Victor Teleucă , Valeriu Senic...

, published by the Union of Writers of Moldova. Other principal periodicals include Basarabia (also published by the Writers' Union), Chipăruş, Alunelul, Femeia Moldovei, Lanterna Magică, Moldova, Noi
NOI
NOI may refer to:* Any of the national informatics olympiads used for selection to the International Olympiad in Informatics, including:** National Olympiad in Informatics, China, a Chinese annual informatics competition...

, and SudEst.

Kishinëvskiye novosti, Kodry, and Russkoye Slovo are Russian-language periodicals. Other minority-language periodicals include Prosvita
Prosvita
Prosvita is a society created in the nineteenth century in Ukrainian Galicia for preserving and developing Ukrainian culture and education among population....

 and Homin in Ukrainian, Ana sözu and Cîrlangaci in Gagauz
Gagauz
Gagauz may refer to:* Gagauz people* Gagauz language* Gagauzia...

, Rodno slovo in Bulgarian
Bulgarian language
Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...

, and Undzer kol/Nash golos in Yiddish and Russian. In all, 240 newspapers (ninety-seven in Romanian) and sixty-eight magazines (thirty-five in Romanian) were being published in the republic in 1990. Basa Press, an independent news service, was established in November 1992.

Related Information

  • Telephone lines in use: 1 164 629 (2011)
  • Mobile telephones users: 3 250 000 (2011)
  • Level of penetration of fixed telephony in households: 90,8% (2009)
  • Level of penetration of fixed telephony: 32,7% (2011)
  • Level of penetration of mobile telephony: 91.3% (2011)
  • Radio broadcast stations: AM - 2, FM - 29, Shortwave - N/A (2006)

The telecommunications in Moldova were an obsolete state monopoly during the Moldovan SSR. In the 1990s, it slowly began to develop new services and in the 2000s telecommunications are seeing increased market value through unexpected sales.

Landline

After the break of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

, Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...

's telecommunications facilities were very poor and remained like that until 1995 when Moldtelecom
Moldtelecom
Moldtelecom is a national telecommunications operator in Moldova. Created on April 1, 1993 as part of the national telecommunications restructuring, Moldtelecom was a state company. On January 5, 1999 Moldtelecom was reorganized and became a Joint Stock Company with the State being the unique...

 (back then was a state company) begun the upgrade process. In 1990 Moldova had an average of 11 telephones per 100 inhabitants, and there were more than 200,000 unfilled orders for telephone installation. In 1994 23,800 new telephone lines were installed, which included public phones with direct international dialing capabilities.

When in 1999 Moldtelecom
Moldtelecom
Moldtelecom is a national telecommunications operator in Moldova. Created on April 1, 1993 as part of the national telecommunications restructuring, Moldtelecom was a state company. On January 5, 1999 Moldtelecom was reorganized and became a Joint Stock Company with the State being the unique...

 became a JSC
Joint stock company
A joint-stock company is a type of corporation or partnership involving two or more individuals that own shares of stock in the company...

 the company began a process of upgrading all telephone and communication lines in the country. In 2000 approximately 435,930 new lines were installed. Overall power of telephone stations increased up to 645,000 numbers. The average number of telephones increased up to 16 telephones per 100 inhabitants. In 2008 the number of digital telephone stations increased up to 82.6% (4% in 1993).

At the end of 2010 the number of telephone lines reached 1.161 million with overall penetration of 32.6% (or 32 telephones per 100 inhabitants).

Mobile telephony

The mobile telephone market of Moldova is divided between two GSM - Orange Moldova
Orange Moldova
The Orange company operates in Moldova since April 1998, a 94.45% share of Orange Moldova belongs to France Télécom. The company is also an internet service provider and fixed voice services provider for business....

 and Moldcell
Moldcell
Moldcell is a mobile network operator in Moldova. It works in GSM and UMTS standards.- General information :Communication standard: Moldcell has a license to work in GSM standard on frequencies from 900 to 1800 MHz as well as in UMTS standard on frequency of 2100 MHz.Moldcell started its...

, and two CDMA - Unité
Unité
-General information:Communication standard: Unité has a license to work in CDMA standard on frequency of 450 MHz as well as in UMTS standard on frequency of 2100 MHz.Numbering resources:Unité network codes are: 671xxxxx 672xxxxx 673xxxxx...

 and Interdnestrcom
Interdnestrcom
Interdnestrcom is a Transnistrian telecommunication company providing mobile communication services for the unrecognized territory of Transnistria in Moldova. It was established in 1998. As well as providing mobile phone services, it also provides dial-up and ISDN internet access.- Internet...

 mobile operators. Orange Moldova has launched its network in October 1998, Moldcell
Moldcell
Moldcell is a mobile network operator in Moldova. It works in GSM and UMTS standards.- General information :Communication standard: Moldcell has a license to work in GSM standard on frequencies from 900 to 1800 MHz as well as in UMTS standard on frequency of 2100 MHz.Moldcell started its...

 in April 2000, Moldtelecom (under the trademark Unité) in March 2007.

There was a third GSM operator - Eventis
Eventis
Eventis is a mobile network operator in Moldova. Working in GSM standard on 900 and 1800 MHz frequency bands. Network was launched on 21 December 2007.Currently operator's coverage is available in Chişinău, Bălţi, Soroca, Orhei....

. It began its operations in December 2007 but on February 5th 2010 the entire network was shut down and the company declared bankruptcy.

The first million of mobile telephone users was registered in September 2005. A year and a half later the figure amounted to 1.5 million users.

In 2007 the number of mobile phone users was 1.882 million. In 2008 the number reached 2.423 million. In 2009 - 2.785 million. In 2010 - 3.165 million

At the end of Q1 2011 the number of mobile phone users reached 3.250 million with the overall penetration of 91.3%.http://en.anrceti.md/telmob#fig6

At the end of Q1 2011 Moldcell had 1.101 million subscribers, Orange Moldova - 2.019 million subscribers, Unité - 130,000 subscribers.http://en.anrceti.md/telmob#fig3

Moldcell
Moldcell
Moldcell is a mobile network operator in Moldova. It works in GSM and UMTS standards.- General information :Communication standard: Moldcell has a license to work in GSM standard on frequencies from 900 to 1800 MHz as well as in UMTS standard on frequency of 2100 MHz.Moldcell started its...

 in October 2008 was the first mobile operator in Moldova who launched the 3G standard in mobile telephony.
Orange Moldova
Orange Moldova
The Orange company operates in Moldova since April 1998, a 94.45% share of Orange Moldova belongs to France Télécom. The company is also an internet service provider and fixed voice services provider for business....

 in September 2009, Moldova was the first country in the world to launch high-definition voice services (HD voice) for mobile phones, and the first country in Europe to launch 14,4 Mbit/s mobile broadband at a national scale, with over 40% population coverage.

Internet

At the end of 2009 there were around 1,295,000 internet users and 186,700 broadband subscribers in Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...

 with overall internet penetration of 29.9%. In 2004 there were 183 Internet Cafes registered in Chişinău
Chisinau
Chișinău is the capital and largest municipality of Moldova. It is also its main industrial and commercial centre and is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bîc...

, that number has significantly decreased in later years.

In 2010 there were 5 main Internet Service Providers in the country - Moldtelecom
Moldtelecom
Moldtelecom is a national telecommunications operator in Moldova. Created on April 1, 1993 as part of the national telecommunications restructuring, Moldtelecom was a state company. On January 5, 1999 Moldtelecom was reorganized and became a Joint Stock Company with the State being the unique...

, StarNet
StarNet
StarNet is a Moldovan Internet service provider. The company provides Internet services via ADSL and FTTB...

, SunCommunications
SunCommunications
SunCommunications is a Moldovan Internet and Digital/Cable TV service provider. The company was founded in 1993.- Services :*Digital/Cable TV...

, Orange
Orange Moldova
The Orange company operates in Moldova since April 1998, a 94.45% share of Orange Moldova belongs to France Télécom. The company is also an internet service provider and fixed voice services provider for business....

 and Interdnestrcom
Interdnestrcom
Interdnestrcom is a Transnistrian telecommunication company providing mobile communication services for the unrecognized territory of Transnistria in Moldova. It was established in 1998. As well as providing mobile phone services, it also provides dial-up and ISDN internet access.- Internet...

 in Transnistria
Transnistria
Transnistria is a breakaway territory located mostly on a strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border to Ukraine...



The most spread internet connection type is ADSL, however in recent years internet connection via FTTB has seen a rapid increase, with ADSL holding around 62.4% of the market and FTTB around 34.2%. Average download speed throughout the country is estimated to be around 20 Mbit/s according to Ookla Net Metricshttp://www.speedtest.net/global.php#0 In Chişinău and some regional centers speeds of 100/100Mbit are easily available through FTTB.

Internet Usage and Broadband Subscribers. (2010)http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/icteye/Reporting/ShowReportFrame.aspx?ReportName=/WTI/InformationTechnologyPublic&ReportFormat=HTML4.0&RP_intYear=2010&RP_intLanguageID=1&RP_bitLiveData=False
  • Number of Users - 1,425,000
  • Number of Broadband Subscribers - 269,100
  • Penetration - 40%


Structure of Broadband Service Market, by Access Technology. (2010)http://en.anrceti.md/transpdate#fig7
  • xDSL - 62.4%
  • Cable - 2.8%
  • FTTB/LAN - 34.2%
  • Wireless - 0.6%

Television

In 2007 there are dozens of broadcast companies in Chisinau providing analogue TV - major ones include SunTV (about 70,000 subscribers) and Satellit (about 20,000 subscribers). Smaller ones include Delta and Alfa TV
Alfa TV
Alfa TV is a premium television service available in Cyprus, that broadcasts Sports and children's programming as well as the odd film. It is owned by Alfa TV Ltd. and it launched in 1998...

.

Starting the mid-2007 - Zebra TV (provided by Arax) introduced first digital cable network in Chisinau. SunTV also launched digital TV.

Print media

The main daily newspaper in the republic, Moldova Suverana, is published by the government. Sfatul Ţării
Sfatul Tarii
Sfatul Țării was, in 1917-1918, the National Assembly of the Governorate of Bessarabia of the disintegrating Russian Empire, which proclaimed the independent Moldavian Democratic Republic in December 1917, and then union with Romania in April 1918.-Russian participation in World War I:In August...

 is published by Parliament, which also publishes the daily Nezavisimaya Moldova in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

. Other principal newspapers include Rabochiy Tiraspol' (in Russian, the main newspaper of the Slavs in Transnistria
Transnistria
Transnistria is a breakaway territory located mostly on a strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border to Ukraine...

), Ţara, Tineretul Moldovei/Molodezh Moldovy
Molodezh Moldovy
Molodezh Moldovy is a newspaper published three times per week in Chişinău, the capital of Moldova. The title is Russian for Youth of Moldova. The newspaper is published in Russian and Romanian....

 (in Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...

 and Russian), and Viaţa satului (published by the government).

The main cultural publication in Moldova is the weekly journal Literatura şi arta
Literatura şi Arta
Literatura şi Arta is a weekly newspaper from Chişinău, Moldova.- History :The first edition was printed in 1977. The first editor in chief was Victor Teleucă , Valeriu Senic...

, published by the Union of Writers of Moldova. Other principal periodicals include Basarabia (also published by the Writers' Union), Chipăruş, Alunelul, Femeia Moldovei, Lanterna Magică, Moldova, Noi
NOI
NOI may refer to:* Any of the national informatics olympiads used for selection to the International Olympiad in Informatics, including:** National Olympiad in Informatics, China, a Chinese annual informatics competition...

, and SudEst.

Kishinëvskiye novosti, Kodry, and Russkoye Slovo are Russian-language periodicals. Other minority-language periodicals include Prosvita
Prosvita
Prosvita is a society created in the nineteenth century in Ukrainian Galicia for preserving and developing Ukrainian culture and education among population....

 and Homin in Ukrainian, Ana sözu and Cîrlangaci in Gagauz
Gagauz
Gagauz may refer to:* Gagauz people* Gagauz language* Gagauzia...

, Rodno slovo in Bulgarian
Bulgarian language
Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...

, and Undzer kol/Nash golos in Yiddish and Russian. In all, 240 newspapers (ninety-seven in Romanian) and sixty-eight magazines (thirty-five in Romanian) were being published in the republic in 1990. Basa Press, an independent news service, was established in November 1992.

Related Information

  • Telephone lines in use: 1 164 629 (2011)http://en.anrceti.md/telfixa#fig6
  • Mobile telephones users: 3 250 000 (2011)http://en.anrceti.md/telmob#fig6
  • Level of penetration of fixed telephony in households: 90,8% (2009)
  • Level of penetration of fixed telephony: 32,7% (2011)http://en.anrceti.md/telfixa#fig6
  • Level of penetration of mobile telephony: 91.3% (2011)http://en.anrceti.md/telmob#fig6
  • Radio broadcast stations: AM - 2, FM - 29, Shortwave - N/A (2006)

The telecommunications in Moldova were an obsolete state monopoly during the Moldovan SSR. In the 1990s, it slowly began to develop new services and in the 2000s telecommunications are seeing increased market value through unexpected sales.

Landline

After the break of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

, Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...

's telecommunications facilities were very poor and remained like that until 1995 when Moldtelecom
Moldtelecom
Moldtelecom is a national telecommunications operator in Moldova. Created on April 1, 1993 as part of the national telecommunications restructuring, Moldtelecom was a state company. On January 5, 1999 Moldtelecom was reorganized and became a Joint Stock Company with the State being the unique...

 (back then was a state company) begun the upgrade process. In 1990 Moldova had an average of 11 telephones per 100 inhabitants, and there were more than 200,000 unfilled orders for telephone installation. In 1994 23,800 new telephone lines were installed, which included public phones with direct international dialing capabilities.

When in 1999 Moldtelecom
Moldtelecom
Moldtelecom is a national telecommunications operator in Moldova. Created on April 1, 1993 as part of the national telecommunications restructuring, Moldtelecom was a state company. On January 5, 1999 Moldtelecom was reorganized and became a Joint Stock Company with the State being the unique...

 became a JSC
Joint stock company
A joint-stock company is a type of corporation or partnership involving two or more individuals that own shares of stock in the company...

 the company began a process of upgrading all telephone and communication lines in the country. In 2000 approximately 435,930 new lines were installed. Overall power of telephone stations increased up to 645,000 numbers. The average number of telephones increased up to 16 telephones per 100 inhabitants. In 2008 the number of digital telephone stations increased up to 82.6% (4% in 1993).

At the end of 2010 the number of telephone lines reached 1.161 million with overall penetration of 32.6% (or 32 telephones per 100 inhabitants).

Mobile telephony

The mobile telephone market of Moldova is divided between two GSM - Orange Moldova
Orange Moldova
The Orange company operates in Moldova since April 1998, a 94.45% share of Orange Moldova belongs to France Télécom. The company is also an internet service provider and fixed voice services provider for business....

 and Moldcell
Moldcell
Moldcell is a mobile network operator in Moldova. It works in GSM and UMTS standards.- General information :Communication standard: Moldcell has a license to work in GSM standard on frequencies from 900 to 1800 MHz as well as in UMTS standard on frequency of 2100 MHz.Moldcell started its...

, and two CDMA - Unité
Unité
-General information:Communication standard: Unité has a license to work in CDMA standard on frequency of 450 MHz as well as in UMTS standard on frequency of 2100 MHz.Numbering resources:Unité network codes are: 671xxxxx 672xxxxx 673xxxxx...

 and Interdnestrcom
Interdnestrcom
Interdnestrcom is a Transnistrian telecommunication company providing mobile communication services for the unrecognized territory of Transnistria in Moldova. It was established in 1998. As well as providing mobile phone services, it also provides dial-up and ISDN internet access.- Internet...

 mobile operators. Orange Moldova has launched its network in October 1998, Moldcell
Moldcell
Moldcell is a mobile network operator in Moldova. It works in GSM and UMTS standards.- General information :Communication standard: Moldcell has a license to work in GSM standard on frequencies from 900 to 1800 MHz as well as in UMTS standard on frequency of 2100 MHz.Moldcell started its...

 in April 2000, Moldtelecom (under the trademark Unité) in March 2007.

There was a third GSM operator - Eventis
Eventis
Eventis is a mobile network operator in Moldova. Working in GSM standard on 900 and 1800 MHz frequency bands. Network was launched on 21 December 2007.Currently operator's coverage is available in Chişinău, Bălţi, Soroca, Orhei....

. It began its operations in December 2007 but on February 5th 2010 the entire network was shut down and the company declared bankruptcy.

The first million of mobile telephone users was registered in September 2005. A year and a half later the figure amounted to 1.5 million users.

In 2007 the number of mobile phone users was 1.882 million. In 2008 the number reached 2.423 million. In 2009 - 2.785 million. In 2010 - 3.165 million

At the end of Q1 2011 the number of mobile phone users reached 3.250 million with the overall penetration of 91.3%.http://en.anrceti.md/telmob#fig6

At the end of Q1 2011 Moldcell had 1.101 million subscribers, Orange Moldova - 2.019 million subscribers, Unité - 130,000 subscribers.http://en.anrceti.md/telmob#fig3

Moldcell
Moldcell
Moldcell is a mobile network operator in Moldova. It works in GSM and UMTS standards.- General information :Communication standard: Moldcell has a license to work in GSM standard on frequencies from 900 to 1800 MHz as well as in UMTS standard on frequency of 2100 MHz.Moldcell started its...

 in October 2008 was the first mobile operator in Moldova who launched the 3G standard in mobile telephony.
Orange Moldova
Orange Moldova
The Orange company operates in Moldova since April 1998, a 94.45% share of Orange Moldova belongs to France Télécom. The company is also an internet service provider and fixed voice services provider for business....

 in September 2009, Moldova was the first country in the world to launch high-definition voice services (HD voice) for mobile phones, and the first country in Europe to launch 14,4 Mbit/s mobile broadband at a national scale, with over 40% population coverage.

Internet

At the end of 2009 there were around 1,295,000 internet users and 186,700 broadband subscribers in Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...

 with overall internet penetration of 29.9%. In 2004 there were 183 Internet Cafes registered in Chişinău
Chisinau
Chișinău is the capital and largest municipality of Moldova. It is also its main industrial and commercial centre and is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bîc...

, that number has significantly decreased in later years.

In 2010 there were 5 main Internet Service Providers in the country - Moldtelecom
Moldtelecom
Moldtelecom is a national telecommunications operator in Moldova. Created on April 1, 1993 as part of the national telecommunications restructuring, Moldtelecom was a state company. On January 5, 1999 Moldtelecom was reorganized and became a Joint Stock Company with the State being the unique...

, StarNet
StarNet
StarNet is a Moldovan Internet service provider. The company provides Internet services via ADSL and FTTB...

, SunCommunications
SunCommunications
SunCommunications is a Moldovan Internet and Digital/Cable TV service provider. The company was founded in 1993.- Services :*Digital/Cable TV...

, Orange
Orange Moldova
The Orange company operates in Moldova since April 1998, a 94.45% share of Orange Moldova belongs to France Télécom. The company is also an internet service provider and fixed voice services provider for business....

 and Interdnestrcom
Interdnestrcom
Interdnestrcom is a Transnistrian telecommunication company providing mobile communication services for the unrecognized territory of Transnistria in Moldova. It was established in 1998. As well as providing mobile phone services, it also provides dial-up and ISDN internet access.- Internet...

 in Transnistria
Transnistria
Transnistria is a breakaway territory located mostly on a strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border to Ukraine...



The most spread internet connection type is ADSL, however in recent years internet connection via FTTB has seen a rapid increase, with ADSL holding around 62.4% of the market and FTTB around 34.2%. Average download speed throughout the country is estimated to be around 20 Mbit/s according to Ookla Net Metricshttp://www.speedtest.net/global.php#0 In Chişinău and some regional centers speeds of 100/100Mbit are easily available through FTTB.

Internet Usage and Broadband Subscribers. (2010)http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/icteye/Reporting/ShowReportFrame.aspx?ReportName=/WTI/InformationTechnologyPublic&ReportFormat=HTML4.0&RP_intYear=2010&RP_intLanguageID=1&RP_bitLiveData=False
  • Number of Users - 1,425,000
  • Number of Broadband Subscribers - 269,100
  • Penetration - 40%


Structure of Broadband Service Market, by Access Technology. (2010)http://en.anrceti.md/transpdate#fig7
  • xDSL - 62.4%
  • Cable - 2.8%
  • FTTB/LAN - 34.2%
  • Wireless - 0.6%

Television

In 2007 there are dozens of broadcast companies in Chisinau providing analogue TV - major ones include SunTV (about 70,000 subscribers) and Satellit (about 20,000 subscribers). Smaller ones include Delta and Alfa TV
Alfa TV
Alfa TV is a premium television service available in Cyprus, that broadcasts Sports and children's programming as well as the odd film. It is owned by Alfa TV Ltd. and it launched in 1998...

.

Starting the mid-2007 - Zebra TV (provided by Arax) introduced first digital cable network in Chisinau. SunTV also launched digital TV.

Print media

The main daily newspaper in the republic, Moldova Suverana, is published by the government. Sfatul Ţării
Sfatul Tarii
Sfatul Țării was, in 1917-1918, the National Assembly of the Governorate of Bessarabia of the disintegrating Russian Empire, which proclaimed the independent Moldavian Democratic Republic in December 1917, and then union with Romania in April 1918.-Russian participation in World War I:In August...

 is published by Parliament, which also publishes the daily Nezavisimaya Moldova in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

. Other principal newspapers include Rabochiy Tiraspol' (in Russian, the main newspaper of the Slavs in Transnistria
Transnistria
Transnistria is a breakaway territory located mostly on a strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border to Ukraine...

), Ţara, Tineretul Moldovei/Molodezh Moldovy
Molodezh Moldovy
Molodezh Moldovy is a newspaper published three times per week in Chişinău, the capital of Moldova. The title is Russian for Youth of Moldova. The newspaper is published in Russian and Romanian....

 (in Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...

 and Russian), and Viaţa satului (published by the government).

The main cultural publication in Moldova is the weekly journal Literatura şi arta
Literatura şi Arta
Literatura şi Arta is a weekly newspaper from Chişinău, Moldova.- History :The first edition was printed in 1977. The first editor in chief was Victor Teleucă , Valeriu Senic...

, published by the Union of Writers of Moldova. Other principal periodicals include Basarabia (also published by the Writers' Union), Chipăruş, Alunelul, Femeia Moldovei, Lanterna Magică, Moldova, Noi
NOI
NOI may refer to:* Any of the national informatics olympiads used for selection to the International Olympiad in Informatics, including:** National Olympiad in Informatics, China, a Chinese annual informatics competition...

, and SudEst.

Kishinëvskiye novosti, Kodry, and Russkoye Slovo are Russian-language periodicals. Other minority-language periodicals include Prosvita
Prosvita
Prosvita is a society created in the nineteenth century in Ukrainian Galicia for preserving and developing Ukrainian culture and education among population....

 and Homin in Ukrainian, Ana sözu and Cîrlangaci in Gagauz
Gagauz
Gagauz may refer to:* Gagauz people* Gagauz language* Gagauzia...

, Rodno slovo in Bulgarian
Bulgarian language
Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...

, and Undzer kol/Nash golos in Yiddish and Russian. In all, 240 newspapers (ninety-seven in Romanian) and sixty-eight magazines (thirty-five in Romanian) were being published in the republic in 1990. Basa Press, an independent news service, was established in November 1992.

Related Information

  • Telephone lines in use: 1 164 629 (2011)http://en.anrceti.md/telfixa#fig6
  • Mobile telephones users: 3 250 000 (2011)http://en.anrceti.md/telmob#fig6
  • Level of penetration of fixed telephony in households: 90,8% (2009)
  • Level of penetration of fixed telephony: 32,7% (2011)http://en.anrceti.md/telfixa#fig6
  • Level of penetration of mobile telephony: 91.3% (2011)http://en.anrceti.md/telmob#fig6
  • Radio broadcast stations: AM - 2, FM - 29, Shortwave - N/A (2006)http://www.indexmundi.com/moldova/radio_broadcast_stations.html
  • Radios: 3.22million (1997)
  • Television broadcast stations: 40 (1998)
  • Television sets: 1,26 million (1997)
  • Internet Service Providers (ISP's): 38 (2007)
  • Internet hosts: 492 181 (2010)http://www.indexmundi.com/moldova/internet_hosts.html
  • Internet users: 1 425 000 (2010)http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/icteye/Reporting/ShowReportFrame.aspx?ReportName=/WTI/InformationTechnologyPublic&ReportFormat=HTML4.0&RP_intYear=2010&RP_intLanguageID=1&RP_bitLiveData=False
  • Broadband Internet subscribers: 293 000 (2011)http://en.anrceti.md/transpdate#fig6
  • Internet penetration: 40% (2010)http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/icteye/Reporting/ShowReportFrame.aspx?ReportName=/WTI/InformationTechnologyPublic&ReportFormat=HTML4.0&RP_intYear=2010&RP_intLanguageID=1&RP_bitLiveData=False
  • Country code
    Country code
    Country codes are short alphabetic or numeric geographical codes developed to represent countries and dependent areas, for use in data processing and communications. Several different systems have been developed to do this. The best known of these is ISO 3166-1...

    (Top level domain): MD

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK