Moldova Awards 3G Licence to Wireless Operator Moldcell

Moldcell is the second operator in the country to obtain the 3G licence. Last month ANRCETI granted a 3G licence to Moldova’s largest wireless operator Orange.

Moldcell must launch 3G services by August 1, 2009 and cover the capital Chisinau and the second-largest town of Balti in the first year of operation, ANRCETI said in a statement.

"Moldcell plans to launch 3G services by the end of the year or  in the first quarter of next year at the latest," Moldcell technical director Mustafa Donbaloglu said in the same statement.

In May, the Moldovan cabinet said it will offer a 15-year 3G licence to each of the four mobile operators in the country this year, if they were interested. Four mobile operators are active in Moldova, a country of four million people. Three of the operators: Moldcell, Orange and Eventis, operate in the GSM standard. The fourth one, Unite, offers services in the CDMA standard.

ANRCETI said that Unite and Eventis have not shown interest in obtaining the 3G licence yet. The deadline for placing bids for the licence is December 15.

Moldcell said it covered 95.81% of Moldova's territory and 95.44% of its population in August.

 ($=0.7185 euro)