On Wednesday, February 26th, 2003, the President of the National Regulatory Authority for Communications, Ion Smeeianu, took part in the celebration of «10 years of Internet in Romania». The event, organized by the National Institute for Research and Development in Information (ICI) and the National Association of Internet Service Providers of Romania (ANISP) represents the opportunity to rememorate the date of February 26th, 1993, when the „.ro” domain was recognised at international level, as well as the most important moments in the evolution of the Internet in Romania.
The official opening of the event was followed by a series of debates covering subjects such as: the beginning of Internet in Romania, the liberties of Internet and its regulation, aspects of legal practices, Internet and Society, preparing the youth for the Internet, and so on.
In his speech, Mr. Ion Smeeianu reasserted the fundamental role of the researchers, but also of the Internet provider companies in stimulating the more alert rhythm of the technological growth of Romania. The virtual space is a fertile field not only for promoting commercial agents and for boosting the economy in order to develop the businesses, but is also the place where one can find information made available for the public by the state administration or other civil society institutions.
Ion Smeeianu explained that one of the measures adopted by ANRC after its establishment was to set out the mechanism for authorizing the providers of electronic communication services and networks. This system, reduced to a simple notification sent to ANRC by the applicants, eliminates the bureaucratic market entry barriers for the new operators. The permissive authorization regime, together with the high market potential (the Internet penetration rate in Romania is close to 10% at this moment) led to a large number of notifications: 700 so far. 149 of the companies received the standard certificate which grants the right to provide Internet access services and 172 the standard certificates for the provision of other data services. Of the companies intending to provide Internet services, 177 will offer dial-up connections, 120 connections through coaxial cable, 163 through radio, and 177 through leased lines.
Following the effective entry of all these providers on the market, the Authority will adopt other measures in order to promote a competitive system which should lead to the market development and also to the increase of the number of Internet services consumers and users.
“The final aim of ANRC is particularly to develop the Romanian electronic communications market. We count on the market forces. They proved their potential, but in order to boost their dynamics to the point where the results are comparable with what others have already achieved, we need a ruling structure of the market game designated to support this national desiderate which is the informational society”, stated Ion Smeeianu.
The Internet, as known today in Romania, is the result of years of hard work, innovations and investments. The pioneers of the Romanian Internet were representatives of the academic and research environment, supported by the Romanian state, represented in that period by the Ministry of Research and Technology. Ten years have passed between the first simple connection by leased line and the satellite connection, between the moment the „.ro” domain was registered and the recomposition of the Romanian reality in the virtual space and during this period 46,800 of „.ro” domains were allocated and almost 16,000 Romanian websites were created.