Internet in Moldova
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Internet access in Moldova is dominated by Moldtelecom (also known as MTC) and StarNet. These are two dominant ISPs in the country. There are others such as SunCommunications, DanisNet, Globnet, Telemedia Group, Interdnestrcom, etc. All their headquarters except Interdnestrcom are located in Chişinău, Interdnestrсom is located in Tiraspol. Most of the services are offered only in Chişinău, with many areas in the country having only Dial-up access, which is rather expensive. But in Chişinău Moldtelecom and StarNet are the only ISPs to offer internet access with relatively high speed, other ISPs either buy traffic from MTC and StarNet or have their own channels which are very slow. As a result connection speed is slow and the prices compared to the two main competitors are high. Moldtelecom is the only ISP that offers its services throughout the country on a wide scale, StarNet and SunCommunications follow offering their services in Bălţi, Ungheni, Hâncești, Ialoveni, Stăuceni. Other ISPs work only within Chişinău.
The closed joint stock company "Interdnestrсom" is Transnistrian "national" ISP that offers its services on a wide scale throughout Transnistrian territory under the brand of "OK". It is the only known large ISP in that area. Good internet access is only available in large cities with high speeds available only in Tiraspol and Bender.
Contents |
[edit] ADSL
Moldtelecom
- Moldtelecom is the national communications company and is the main DSL provider in the county. It is the only ISP that offers its services outside Chişinău on a wide scale. Fees are different depending where the subscriber is located - a person living in a city will pay less and have faster connection than one located in a town or rural areas.
Speeds range from 3 to 7Mbps with maximum payment of 28€ / month, unlimited packages only.
StarNet
- StarNet, the second largest ISP in the county also offers ADSL services in Chişinău and Bălţi.
Speeds range from 4 to 10Mbps with maximum payment of 26€ / month, limited and unlimited packages.
OK
- OK offers service in Transnistria, a breakaway republic within the internationally recognized borders of Moldova. Since it doesn't recognize any Moldovan company on its territory it has its own "national" and the only ISP - Interdnestrcom (Russian: Интерднестрком) or IDC that provides Internet access via ADSL under the brand of OK. The IDC is the dominant Internet service provider in the Transnistria like Moldtelecom or StarNet in Moldova.
Speeds range from 128 to 1536Kbps with maximum payment of 22€ / month, limited and unlimited packages.
[edit] Cable
SunCommunications
- The only provider for this mode is SunCommunications. It as StarNet offers services in Bălţi, however two cannot be compared, even tho Cable can offer high speeds SunCommunications does not appear to agree with that.
Speeds range from 512-2048Kbps with maximum payment of 19€ / month, unlimited packages only.
[edit] FTTB (Fiber-Optic)
StarNet
- StarNet is the pioneer of this technology in Moldova, it was the first ISP that begun to offer inet connection via fiber-optic cable, however the service is only available in Chişinău. StarNet's FTTB coverage of Chişinău is approximatley 60% and is expanding.
Speeds range from 512Kbps to 100Mbps with maximum payment of 26€ / month, limited and unlimited packages.
Moldtelecom
- Moldtelecom is a new player on this arena. It begun to offer inet connection via FTTB in may 2008, the service is, as StarNet's, available only in Chişinău but the coverage area is inferior compared to StarNet's.
Speeds range from 512Kbps to 50Mbps with maximum payment of 25€ / month, unlimited packages only.
[edit] Dial-up
Dial-Up is available throughout the country and is provided by Moldtelecom.
[edit] WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access)
There has been several news about allowing Moldavian providers to use this technology. In August 2008 several meetings are planned to discuss this issue. If agreed, Chişinău and then all major cities in Moldova will have WiMax Internet access. Will it be cheap or what will be the speeds is unknown.
[edit] Mobile Internet
- Unité is a mobile network operator in Moldova. Working at the CDMA2000 standard, on 450 Mhz frequency. Moldtelecom is 100% shareholder of the operator. The service is available throughout the country, with services at 2,4Mbit/sec.
[edit] Speeds
If you want a more detailed list of speeds and prices please visit this link: List of Speeds
[edit] ISP's by category
| Provider | ADSL | Cable | FTTB | Connection Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moldtelecom | + | - | + | max DL speed - 7 Mbit/s |
| StarNet | + | - | + | max DL speed - 10Mbit/s |
| OK | + | - | - | max DL speed - 1.5 Mbit/s |
| DataCom | - | - | + | (max DL speed - 1Mbit/s) LAN, Chişinău, Botanica sector only |
| SunCommunications | - | + | - | max DL speed - 2 Mbit/s |
| Riscom | + | - | - | |
| ARAX | + | - | - | |
| DanisNet | + | - | - | (max DL speed - 3Mbit/s) LAN, Chişinău, Botanica sector only |
| GlobNet | + | - | - | |
| Telemedia Group S.A. | + | - | - | max Dl speed - 5 Mbit/s |
The "max DL speed" means maximum external DL speed for the most expensive package available for private (home) clients, not business!
[edit] Statistics
On September 2007 there were 727,700 Internet users in Moldova, with overall population 3,815,677, this means that only 16.8 % of population of Moldova have Internet, broadband users are even less - 21,800, most of them are from Chişinău. The overall Internet penetration is 19.5%. On the 1.03 2004 there were 183 Internet Cafe registered only in Chişinău, however in later years that number decreased as computers and Internet became much cheaper. The most used package is Moldtelecom's "MaxDSL ECO" 3/1 Mbit/sec service. At the moment the overall throughput of all external internet channels owned by Moldtelecom is 4.4 Gbit/s.
[edit] History of Internet in Moldova
Internet in Moldova first appeared in 1995-'96 when first ISP's "CRI" and "Relsoft Communications" were born. In 1996 the first FTTB line between Chişinău and Bucureşti has been lead. In 1998 "Moldtelecom" became a part of Moldovan Internet, offering ISP services. In 2000 IDKNet started providing internet access via Dial UP. In 2003 StarNet was born. In 2004 Moldtelecom launches MaxDSL, new internet service that will become its brand in the future. SunCommunications exists since 1993 but it begun to offer internet services only since 2004. In 2006 StarNet starts construction of FTTB ring in Chişinău. In 2007 StarNet begins to offer Internet access via FTTB. In 2008 Moldtelecom begins to offer internet via FTTB in Chişinău.
- 1991 - Registration of domain moldova.su
- 1992 - "Realsoft" the first ISP in Moldova is born.
- 1994 - Registration of domain MD.
- 1995 - First ISP's "CRI" and "Relsoft Communications" begin to offer ONLINE internet access.
- 1996 - First FTTB line between Chişinău and Bucureşti is lead.
- 1998 - Moldtelecom became a part of Moldavian Internet, offering ISP services.
- 2000 - IDKNet started offering Dial Up services in Transnistria.
- 2003 - StarNet is born.
- 2004 - Moldtelecom launches MaxDSL, new Internet service via ADSL, and SunCommunications begins to offer Internet services via cable.
- 2006 - StarNet bigins construction of FTTB ring in Chişinău. Torrents.MD - largest torrent tracker in Moldova is launched.
- 2007 - IDKNet launches OK, new internet service via ADSL offered in Transnistria. StarNet begins to offer internet services via FTTB.
- 2008 - Moldtelecom launches MaxFiber, new internet servise via FTTB.
Even though there are many ISP's that offer ADSL connection the majority of the population is limited to Dial Up only because they are located in small towns and country where the ADSL service is not available; furthermore, Dial Up prices are typically higher than the cheapest ADSL packages. There has not been much progress since 1995. Most ISP's still are localized, some like Moldtelecom, StarNet and SunCommunications offer their services outside Chişinău. Until 2007 all ISP's offered very slow connection speeds for rather high prices.
|
|||||||||||
