BUCHAREST, Romania-The Moldova republic, a former Romanian region, is a small country with a population of 4.3 million and a small economy. The mobile market is not currently dynamic, reflecting the general situation of the country. Licensing problems are affecting growth potential for several carriers.
Moldova has two cellular operators, an NMT 450 network and a GSM 900 network, with a combined subscriber base of 27,000.
Moldovian Mobile Telephone (MMT), the analog operator, received its license in August 1995 and started commercial operations in December 1995. By January 2000, the NMT network covered 82 percent of the population and 80 percent of the territory with a subscriber base of 3,600.
MMT shares are owned by the country’s GSM operator Voxtel, a consortium owned by France Telecom Mobile International (51 percent), MMT (35 percent), Moldtelecom (10 percent) and Romanian operator MobilRom (4 percent).
Voxtel was granted a 15-year GSM 900 license in May 1997 and began commercial service in October 1998. Voxtel’s network currently has 22,600 subscribers, and the company covers 61 percent of the population and 69 percent of the country’s territory.
In 1999, the Start consortium, which owns Voxtel, secured an international loan package intended to spur development of the GSM network. International Finance Corp., Dresdner Kleinworth Benson, Societe Generale and West LB offered the US$40 million package in April 1999, which will cover the next three years of investments made by the consortium.
Limited mobile competition emerged in the separatist region of Transinistria in the east of Moldova when in September 1999, Moldtelecom, the wireline operator, signed an interconnection agreement with the Transinistria local mobile operator Interdnestrcom. Interdnestrcom operates a CDMA mobile network in the Transinistria city of Tiraspol, covering a population of more than 300,000 people with about 800 subscribers.
The Moldovian Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MTC) said it was not informed about the interconnection agreement between Moldtelecom and Interdnestrcom, and no license was granted for this operation. A decision from the ministry was pending at press time.
Cellular Communications BT (CCBT) is a joint venture between Luxembourg’s Millicom International Cellular (55 percent) and local shareholders (45 percent) established in 1997. CCBT was awarded a D-AMPS license in December 1997 and was promised a commercial operating license for May 1998.
In March 1998, CCBT purchased D-AMPS IS-136 network equipment from Ericsson, planning to cover first the Chisinau city and the surrounding area, followed by the principal cities of Moldova.
By the end of 1998, the commercial license had not materialized due to strong lobbying efforts by competitors, and the company took the case to court. At press time, CCBT was still waiting for an answer from the court, and the company stated that if it does not receive a commercial license, it will be forced to pull out of the country.
The second GSM license is also a hot subject. Two mobile operators-Russia’s Vimpelcom and Moldcell-expressed their interest in bidding for the license.
According to the local press, the second GSM license was granted in November 1999 by MTC to Moldcell, but it has not yet received a license to operate service.
Moldcell said it will invest almost US$105 million in the GSM network during the first year of operations, and monthly fees will be less than rival operator Voxtel.
