Telecommunications in Moldova

Internet

Moldova has one of the best wired Internet connections in the world as well as one of the cheapest in terms of $ per Mbit. 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 EU or CIS countries. As of 2011 there are 31 registered ISP's in the country with the majority being local or regional only with only few offering their services throughout the country. Moldtelecom (or MTC) and StarNet are country's leading providers sharing around 88% of the market. The remaining 12% are shared between other ISP's like Orange Moldova, SunCommunications, Arax Communications, IDC, Moldcell and others. Almost ISP's that offer their services across the country have their headquarters located in the capital city of Chişinău, the exception being IDC whose headquarters are located in the city of Tiraspol.
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.
Since 2008 all Mobile Network Operators offer 3G HSDPA Internet access throughout the country. 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 very poor the gap between prices and quality for wired and mobile Internet is extremely high.
After the War of Transnistria in early 90's Transnistrian 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 Interdnestrсom (Интерднестрком) and LinkService, both operate only on Transnistrian territory.
The most spread Internet access type is ADSL, however in recent years Internet access via FTTB has seen a rapid increase, with ADSL holding around 55.4% of the market and FTTB around 39.7%. 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 higher than 100Mbit/s are easily available through FTTB.

Internet Usage and Broadband Subscribers. (2011)