On Monday, May 19th, 2008, the telecentre in Poiana Horea, county of Cluj, opened its gates for the local community. The President of the National Regulatory Authority for Communications and Information Technology, Mr. Dan Georgescu, and the Regional Sales Manager of Radiocom, Mr. Vlad Miron, attended the opening ceremony.
”Since 2004, ANRCTI has organised seven tenders for the installation of telecentres in 633 localities throughout Romania. 350 of these have already been commissioned and now serve the little local communities successfully. Apart from this telecentre in Poiana Horea, which we inaugurate today, the county of Cluj presently counts 15 telecentres and, by the end of this year, 32 localities in this county will have operational telecentres”, Mr. Dan Georgescu declared.
”We are glad that our telecentre meets the needs of people in rural areas with limited access to communications. Over time, Radiocom has invested also in community support, since we believe that only such an approach can provide for sustainable development as regards both our company and society, in general.
The designation of Radiocom as a Universal Service provider for 199 telecentres confirms ANRCTI’s recognition of our company as a trustworthy partner, as our utterly expressed goal is contributing to improved access to communications for as many Romanians as possible”, Mr. Ionel Branga, Commercial Executive Manager of Radiocom, declared.
Seven Universal Service providers selected during the tenders organised by ANRCTI have installed or are to install telecentres in localities with limited or no access to communications services. The telecentre in Poiana Horea has been installed by Radiocom, a company which took part in 6 of the tenders organised by ANRCTI. Alongside the local authorities and the Universal Service providers, ANRCTI has installed more than half of the telecentres provided in the national programme for the installation of telecentres, which is to be completed this year.
Through this programme, ANRCTI aims to offer equal opportunities to the inhabitants of communications-challenged or deprived villages: access to information, to communications services and to new technologies, benefits which are common among the urban population.
Poiana Horea, a locality which has approximately 450 inhabitants, is situated in the Belis commune, on the bank of Lake Fantanele, at 1,100 meters height. This telecentre was endowed with two fixed telephone sets, one fax machine, two computers connected to the Internet and one printer. By means of this equipment, the users can originate and receive local, national and international telephone calls (including to mobile networks), can benefit from facsimile and data transmission services and, e-mail, Internet surfing and can call the single emergency number – 112.
The 350 telecentres opened so far prove the people’s interest and open-mindedness towards the new technologies. This year, the first five telecentres installed as part of the national programme for Universal Service implemented in communities with limited access to telephone and Internet services have completed the three-year period at the end of which they are to be taken over by the local authorities.
The telecentres are installed in villages without access to communications services, as public areas where people can initiate or receive telephone calls and facsimile messages, as well as use computers connected to the Internet. At the end of this national programme for the implementation of Universal Service, 633 isolated rural communities will enjoy access to telephone and Internet services.