ANRC designated today the companies that are to install telecentres in 70 localities in the rural area with poor access to telephone services. The winning companies in the tender launched in December 2005 are the following: S.C. Orange Romania S.A., S.C. Rartel S.R.L. and the National Company Radiocomunicatii S.A.
S.C. Orange Romania S.A. will install 8 telecentres in localities of 7 counties (read more)
S.C. Rartel S.R.L will install 12 telecentres in localities of 8 counties (read more)
The National Company Radiocomunicatii S.A. will install 50 telecentres in localities of 28 counties (read more)
A telecentre is the public area endowed with at least two telephone sets, two computers and one fax machine, where the end-users may initiate and receive local, long distance and international calls. A telecentre also provides facsimile communications and data transmission services at a transfer rate high enough to allow effective access to the Internet.
The net cost for the installation of the 70 telecentres amounts to 2,525,475,53 RON. This cost will be covered by ANRC from the Universal Service Fund. On average, the total cost of installing the equipments and of supporting the operation of each telecentre for three years, as established following the tender, amounts to 36,078 RON, i.e. 10,277 Euro. The cost per locality varies (depending on the technology used and on the distance to the last point of the designated provider’s network).
The amount required for the installation of each telecentre is to be paid, upon request, to the Universal Service Provider, upon installing and commissioning the respective telecentre, according to the rules of the compensation mechanism established by ANRC. Three years later, once the capacity of the Universal Service Provider ceases, the telecentre equipments will become property of the mayoralties of the respective localities.
The installation of the equipment will be initiated after the winning companies, the mayoralties of the designated localities and ANRC conclude the three-party agreements. Signing the three-party agreements obliges the mayors to make available for the designated companies, within 15 days, the location required for the operation of the telecentre. The companies have the obligation to install the telecentres within 120 days after the date the location is made available. The 70 telecentres will be commissioned progressively, until the end of August 2006.
By the end of the current year, ANRC will launch a tender for the installation of telecentres in 200 more localities deprived of or having poor access to electronic communications services, whose mayoralties expressed their availability for participating in this project. So far, ANRC organised tenders for the installation of telecentres in 108 localities. 17 telecentres have already been commissioned.