Editing Telecommunications in Moldova

{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] -->
'''Telecommunications in Moldova''' are maintained at a relatively high performance level. Because Moldova is a small country, telecommunications companies managed to achieve good coverage in both wired and wireless communications infrastructure. Landline is available in most settlements, however mobile phone popularity has vastly increased in recent years. Mobile communications infrastructures are fairly well developed but suffer from high prices, nonetheless the amount of mobile subscriptions is growing very fast compared to the landline. As far as the Internet is concerned, Moldova has one of the best wired Internet connections in the world as well as one of the cheapest in $ per Mbit.

== Landline ==
After the break of the [[Soviet Union]] [[Moldova]]'s [[telecommunications]] facilities were in a very poor condition. In 1990 Moldova had an average of 11 telephones per 100 inhabitants and there were more than 200,000 unfilled orders for telephone installations. The situation didn't progress much as only around 24,000 new lines were installed by 1994. Only after 1995 the state owned Moldtelecom began to upgrade their lines and stations. When in 1999 Moldtelecom became a [[joint-stock company|JSC]] the company began a rapid upgrade process of all of their equipment and installations across the country. In 2000 around 440,000 new lines were installed and the overall power of telephone stations was increased to 645,000 numbers, at that time the average number of telephones per 100 inh. was around 16. The upgrade process to digital has also sped up and in 2008 around 83% of all stations were digital, for example in 1993 only 4% of all stations were digital. Currently all stations in the country are digital and the number of installed lines is 1,171,300 with around 33 telephones per 100 inh. In recent years however the general trend was the decrease in total number of landline subscriptions, after reaching its peak of 1,222,400 subscriptions in Q1 2014.<br>
Currently Moldtelecom is the dominant provider in this industry holding around 89% of the market share, the rest are shared between some ISP's who provide [[Triple play (telecommunications)|triple play]] options to their customers, however most if not all of them rent lines from Moldtelecom.<br>
Until recently an [[Open dialling plan|open dialing plan]] was used but as of April 1, 2012 Moldova has implemented a [[Closed dialing plans|closed dialing plan]] on all of its territory.

'''''Landline Subscriptions and Penetration level. (2020)'''''<ref name="evolutiapietei">{{cite web|url=https://anrceti.md/files/filefield/Anuar%20statistic_2020.pdf|title=EVOLUŢIA PIEŢEI DE COMUNICAŢII ELECTRONICE în anul 2020; ANRCETI |publisher=Anrceti.md |access-date=11 September 2021}}</ref>
* {{Decrease}} Number of Landline Subscriptions - 1,027,689 
*Penetration Level - 38.9%

'''''Market Structure by Number of Users. (2020)'''''<ref name="evolutiapietei"/>
*Moldtelecom - 89.5%
*Other Providers - 10.5%

''*Statistics do not include data from Transnistria.''

== Mobile telephony ==
[[File:Молдтелеком, Кишинев, Молдова Modtelecom, Chisinau, Moldova Moldtelecom Tower, Chisinau, Moldova (49679734761).jpg|thumb|Moldtelecom headquarters, Chișinău]]
The mobile telephone market of Moldova is divided between two [[GSM]] carriers - Orange Moldova and [[Moldcell]], and two [[CDMA]] carriers - [[Unité]] and [[Interdnestrcom]]. Orange Moldova launched its network in October 1998 under the brand of Voxtel and was the first and only carrier at the time. In April 2000 [[TeliaSonera]] entered the market with its own network under the brand of Moldcell and thus became the second carrier in the country. [[Moldtelecom]] became the third carrier when it launched its own network in March 2007 under the brand of Unité. In December 2007 another carrier named [[Eventis]] entered the market but three previous carriers have already saturated it so much that on February 5, 2010 Eventis declared bankruptcy and shut down its network.<br>
After the [[War of Transnistria]] in early 1990s [[Transnistria]]n government denied access of operation for many Moldavian based companies on its territory including telecommunications companies. As such the only major carrier on its territory is Interdnestrcom or IDC who began its operation in 1998.<br>
Unlike Internet market the state of the mobile market in the country is very poor, while coverage is not really an issue all carriers practice archaic methods that carriers in many developed countries have long since abolished, general prices are very high compared to other [[Commonwealth of Independent States|CIS]] and even [[European Union|EU]] countries with no change in this segment in many years in fact in some cases the prices have even increased, mobile Internet access is in no better condition with very high prices and very low monthly caps compared to extremely well developed and cheap wired Internet access.<br>
The first millionth subscription was registered in September 2005 since then the number of subscriptions has quadrupled and now amounts to around 4,323,500 which is almost 25% more than the estimated population of the country (without Transnistria), this means that the penetration level has exceeded 100%.<br>
In October 2008 Moldcell became the first carrier in Moldova to launch a [[3G]] network, currently, all carriers provide 3G services throughout the country. In September 2009 Moldova became 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&nbsp;Mbit/s mobile broadband at a national scale, with over 40% population coverage. 
On April 26, 2012, Interdnestrcom becomes the first carrier in the country to launch a commercial LTE network. On November 20, 2012, Orange became the second carrier in the country and first in official Moldova to successfully launch commercial LTE network. On December 24, 2012, Moldcell became the third carrier in the country to successfully launch a commercial LTE network. On October 22, 2015, Unité became the last carrier to launch a commercial LTE network.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.3g.unite.md/news/?n=abbaba929e14269ce1330c3357e0b4b9| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160306004105/http://www.3g.unite.md/news/?n=abbaba929e14269ce1330c3357e0b4b9| archive-date = 2016-03-06| title = Noutati curente - Unite este partenerul programului DOR}}</ref>

'''''Mobile Subscriptions and Penetration level. (2020)'''''<ref name="evolutiapietei"/>
* {{Decrease}} Total Number of Mobile Subscriptions - 4,108,207
* {{Decrease}} Number of Active Mobile Subscriptions - 3,420,383
*Penetration Level of Active Users - 129.5%

'''''Market Structure by Number of Users. (2020)'''''<ref name="evolutiapietei"/>
* {{Decrease}} Orange Moldova - 55.7%
* {{Decrease}} [[Moldcell]] - 33.1%
* {{Increase}} [[Moldtelecom]] (Unité) - 11.2%

''*Statistics do not include data from Transnistria.''

== Internet ==
{{Main|Internet in Moldova}}
[[Moldova]] has one of the best wired Internet connections in the world as well as one of the cheapest in terms of $ per Mbit.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.netindex.com/value/ |title=Global Value Index &#124; Net Index from Ookla |publisher=Net Index |access-date=2014-07-13 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602231649/http://www.netindex.com/value/ |archive-date=2013-06-02 }}</ref> The overall infrastructure is well developed which allows many users to experience good quality services throughout the country. However, despite high speed availability and cheap prices the penetration level is quite low compared to many [[European Union|EU]] or [[Commonwealth of Independent States|CIS]] countries. At the end of 2015 there were 80 registered ISP's in the country<ref name="numberofisps">{{cite web|url=http://anrceti.md/news10032016 |title=La finele anului 2015, Volumul total al vânzărilor pe piața serviciilor de acces la Internet fix a depășit cifra de un miliard de lei. &#124; ANRCETI |publisher=Anrceti.md |date=2016-03-10 |access-date=2016-03-10}}</ref> with the majority being local or regional only with only few offering their services throughout the country. [[Moldtelecom]] and [[StarNet]] are country's leading providers sharing around 86% of the market.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://anrceti.md/transpdate#fig8 |title=Evoluţia pieţei: Internet fix şi transmisiuni de date &#124; ANRCETI |publisher=Anrceti.md |access-date=2016-03-10}}</ref> The remaining 14% are shared between other ISP's like [[SunCommunications]], Arax Communications and others. All ISP's that offer their services across the country have their headquarters located in the capital city of [[Chişinău]].<br>
Moldtelecom is the only ISP that offers its services throughout the country on a wide scale, StarNet follows offering its services in several large towns and regional centers. Other ISP's are limited to their town or region.<br>
Since 2008 all mobile carriers offer [[3G]] [[HSDPA]] Internet access throughout the country. LTE is also available in Chişinău and select regions and is provided by all carriers. While Moldtelecom and StarNet are major players on the "wired Internet access" market, Orange Moldova, Moldcell and Unité are major players on "mobile Internet access" market. However, because the general state of the mobile market in the country is rather poor the gap between prices and quality for wired and mobile Internet is extremely high.<br>
After the [[War of Transnistria]] in early 1990s [[Transnistria]]n government denied access of operation for many Moldavian based companies on its territory including telecommunications companies. As such the only major ISP's in that area are local IDC or Interdnestrcom (''Интерднестрком'') and LinkService, both operate only on Transnistrian territory.<br>
The most popular wired Internet access technology is [[FTTx]] with about 72% of the market share as of 2020, [[xDSL]] comes second with about 19% of the market share. Average download speed throughout the country is estimated to be around 120&nbsp;Mbit/s according to [[Speedtest.net|Ookla Net Metrics]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.speedtest.net/global-index/moldova#fixed |title=Moldova's Mobile and Fixed Broadband Internet Speeds |publisher=Net Index |access-date=2021-09-15}}</ref> In Chişinău and some regional centers speeds as high as 1&nbsp;Gbit/s are easily available through FTTx.

'''''Number of Broadband Subscriptions. (2020)'''''
*'''Wired:'''<ref name="evolutiapietei"/>
** {{Increase}} Number of Wired Subscriptions - 719,001
**Penetration level - 27.2%
*'''Mobile:'''<ref name="evolutiapietei"/>
** {{Decrease}} Number of Mobile Subscriptions - 2,371,108
**Penetration level - 89.8%

'''''Structure of Wired Broadband Service Market, by Access Technology. (2020)'''''<ref name="evolutiapietei"/>
* {{Increase}} FTTx - 72.3%
* {{Decrease}} xDSL - 19.2%
* {{Increase}} Cable - 8.2%
* {{Decrease}} Other - 0.3%

''Top Level Domain: '''MD'''''

''*Statistics do not include data from Transnistria.''


'''''Internet hosting service'''''

Moldova has numerous [[Internet hosting service|internet hosting services]]:

* [https://alexhost.com/ Alexhost] (Alexhost S.R.L)
* [https://mangohost.net/ MangoHost] (IT FRUIT S.R.L)
* [https://www.host.md/ HOST.md] (Molddata Î.S)

== Television ==
{{main|Television in Moldova}}

[[Television]] industry in Moldova began in 1956 with the construction of the country's first dedicated [[television tower]] in Chişinău which took a little over a year to complete, the finished tower was 196 meters tall and could broadcast within a 60&nbsp;km radius. The first television transmission was sent on 30 April 1958 at 19:00 and included amongst other things cheers from all the parties that participated in the project's development as well as some local celebrities.

At first programs were broadcast only two times a week on Friday and Sunday but by the end of 1958 broadcasts became daily. The first [[Live television|live broadcast]] in the country also happened in 1958.

In 1961 the coverage area was expanded after several relay masts were constructed in [[Bălți]], [[Cahul]] and [[Comrat]]. Since 1974 all broadcasts were made in color and in 1977 the first dedicated television studio was built which is still in use to this day. In the early 1980s there were more than a million citizens with access to television sets. During the Soviet era there weren't all that many channels available with most of them being news and general purpose channels which were all state owned.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.trm.md/ro/istorictv/ |title=Istoric &#124; Stiri Moldova, video, stiri, stiri online &#124; IPNA "Teleradio-Moldova" |publisher=Trm.md |access-date=2014-07-13}}</ref> The industry didn't really change much and only after the fall of the [[USSR]] was when the television industry in the country really started to gain momentum. One of the first cable companies to begin their operation in the country was EuroCable which began its operation shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the company offered [[cable television]] to its customers with multiple local and foreign channels. EuroCable remained the dominant cable television provider until the mid 1990s when it was bought by [[SunCommunications]] which merged it with its own service and re-branded it into SunTV. Because EuroCable and later SunTV began very early they gathered a large subscription base and remain the dominant cable television provider to this day offering their services in several large towns in the country, although this might soon change as [[Moldtelecom]] is rapidly gaining momentum. During the 2000s many other Chişinău based cable television providers such as Satellit, Delta and Alfa emerged offering similar services as SunTV. In 2015 there were 83 registered television providers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://anrceti.md/news15032016 |title=Tot mai mulți abonați dau preferință serviciului de televiziune contra plată în format digital &#124; ANRCETI |publisher=Anrceti.md |access-date=2016-03-15}}</ref> In 2007 Arax Communications launched its own cable television network called Zebra TV which became the first digital network in the country,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zebra.md/en/about-us |title=Zebra Tv |publisher=Zebra.md |access-date=2014-07-13}}</ref> SunTV followed launching its own digital network later that year. Until recently accessing television was only possible via cable but in 2011 [[StarNet]] and Moldtelecom launched their separate [[IPTV]] services in Chişinău and other towns offering multiple channels in both [[Standard-definition television|SD]] and [[High-definition television|HD]] qualities.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://starnet.md/ro/televiziune/ |title=StarNet |publisher=Starnet.md |access-date=2014-07-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.moldtelecom.md/persons/digital_tv |title=Televiziune digitală &#124; Moldtelecom |publisher=Moldtelecom.md |access-date=2014-07-13}}</ref> Local broadcasting has remained fairly undeveloped since the time it was first launched although progress towards better quality is quite rapid with most local channels hoping to go fully digital in the near future.<ref>[http://www.tv7.md/ro/news/k-ijunju-2015-goda-moldova-mozhet-perejti-na-cifrovoe-televidenie-1619.html] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130922195531/http://www.tv7.md/ro/news/k-ijunju-2015-goda-moldova-mozhet-perejti-na-cifrovoe-televidenie-1619.html|date=September 22, 2013}}</ref>

'''''Subscriptions and Penetration level. (2020)'''''<ref name="evolutiapietei"/>
* {{Increase}} Number of multichannel TV subscriptions - 360,932
*Household Penetration level - 41.0%

'''''Structure of multichannel TV subscriptions, by reception technology. (2020)'''''<ref name="evolutiapietei"/>
* {{increase}} IPTV - 58.4%
* {{decrease}} Cable - 41.6%
''of which:''
*{{increase}} Digital - 78.9%
*{{decrease}} Analog - 21.1%

''*Statistics do not include data from Transnistria.''

== Printed media ==
{{update|section|date=April 2013}}
{{main|List of newspapers in Moldova}}

The main daily newspaper in the republic, [[Moldova Suverană]], is published by the government. [[Sfatul Țării (newspaper)|Sfatul Țării]] is published by Parliament, which also publishes the daily [[Nezavisimaya]] Moldova in [[Russian language|Russian]]. Other principal newspapers include [[Rabochiy Tiraspol]]' (in Russian, the main newspaper of the Slavs in [[Transnistria]]), Ţara, [[Tineretul Moldovei]]/[[Molodezh Moldovy]] (in [[Romanian language|Romanian]] and Russian), and [[Viaţa satului]] (published by the government).

The main cultural publication in Moldova is the weekly journal [[Literatura şi arta]], 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, and [[SudEst]].

[[Kishinëvskiye novosti]], [[Kodry]], and [[Russkoye Slovo]] are Russian-language periodicals. Other minority-language periodicals include [[Prosvita]] and [[Homin]] in Ukrainian, [[Ana sözu]] and [[Cîrlangaci]] in [[Gagauz language|Gagauz]], [[Rodno slovo]] in [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], 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.

== General Information ==
* Fixed telephony subscriptions - 1,143,900 (2017)<ref name="landpen">{{cite web|url=http://anrceti.md/telfixa#fig4 |title=Evoluţia pieţei: sectorul telefonie fixă &#124; ANRCETI |publisher=Anrceti.md |access-date=2016-03-03}}</ref>
* Fixed telephony penetration - 32.2% (2017)<ref name="landpen"/>
* Mobile telephony subscriptions - 4,460,000 (2017)<ref name="mobilepen">{{cite web|url=http://anrceti.md/telmob#fig4 |title=Evoluţia pieţei: sectorul telefonie mobilă &#124; ANRCETI |publisher=Anrceti.md |date=2016-03-01 |access-date=2016-03-01}}</ref>
* Mobile telephony penetration - 125.6% (2017)<ref name="mobilepen"/>
* Wired Broadband subscriptions - 584,300 (2017)<ref name="wiredbroadbandsub">{{cite web|url=http://anrceti.md/transpdate#fig6 |title=Evoluţia pieţei: Internet fix şi transmisiuni de date &#124; ANRCETI |publisher=Anrceti.md |access-date=2016-03-10}}</ref>
* Wired Broadband penetration - 16.5% (2017)<ref name="wiredbroadbandpen">{{cite web|url=http://anrceti.md/transpdate#fig9 |title=Evoluţia pieţei: Internet fix şi transmisiuni de date &#124; ANRCETI |publisher=Anrceti.md |access-date=2016-03-10}}</ref>
* Mobile Broadband subscriptions - 2,430,078 (2017)<ref name="mobilebroadband">{{cite web|url=http://anrceti.md/internet_mobil_BL#fig5 |title=Evoluţia pieţei: Internet mobil dedicat &#124; ANRCETI |publisher=Anrceti.md |access-date=2016-03-10}}</ref>
* Mobile Broadband penetration - 68,4% (2017)<ref name="mobilebroadband"/>
* Internet hosts - 711,564 (2012)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/moldova/ |title=The World Factbook |publisher=Cia.gov |access-date=2014-07-13}}</ref>
* Internet Service Providers (ISP's) - 80 (2015)<ref name="numberofisps"/>
* [[Country code]] (Top level domain) - MD

== See also ==
*[[Internet in Moldova]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.mtic.gov.md/en/ The Ministry of Information Development of Moldova]
*[http://www.statistica.md/ National Bureau of Statistic of Moldova]
*[http://en.anrceti.md National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI)]
*[http://news.yam.md/en/p/media Media of Republic of Moldova]
* [http://ijc.md/Publicatii/resurse/ghid_mass_media_2008.pdf Media Guide of the Republic of Moldova 2008] (List of publishers, news agencies and broadcasters, in Romanian and English. Also covers Transnistria.)

{{Moldova topics}}
{{Communications in Europe}}
{{Telecommunications}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Telecommunications In Moldova}}
[[Category:Telecommunications in Moldova| ]]