Romania is online. Romania communicates. Romania invents, deploys, sells and buys communications services, but, more importantly, it consumes them. The Romanians communicate.
We are all actors and spectators of the fast growth of our country, growth to which the communications and information technology have made a major contribution, given the speed of the development of this sector and its weight in the economy. The efforts of the Romanian IT&C specialists, whether they work for private companies or public institutions, and also the Romanians’ appetite for the latest technologies led to this situation, which we are proud of. For this reason, the 17th of May is a day for celebration, especially for us who work in the communications sector.
„Telecommunications Day” is also an occasion for the international community to focus on a theme of major importance. That is why the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) decided to select “ICTs: leading the way to sustainable development” as this year’s themeg.
The ITU is thus drawing attention on an issue which is especially relevant for Romania, since this year marks the beginning of the implementation of the Universal Service mechanisms in our country. By means of these mechanisms, all end users will have access to a set of communications services, at established quality levels, irrespective of geographic regions and at accessible tariffs.
The purpose of these measures is twofold. Fostering economic development, on one hand, and ensuring access of all citizens to a fundamental right, on the other hand. The world is rapidly heading towards a stage where personal success and well-being depend largely on access to information. Moreover, the economic progress is strongly influenced by the extent to which communities have access to communications services.
For this reason, we cannot allow the perpetuation of the divide between our fellow citizens while on the verge of stepping into the Information Society. We are prevented by the most elementary principles of equal opportunity. These principles, assimilated by the European Union in its patrimony, also apply in the field of communications. Promoting universal service has become one of the major policies of the European Union and, also, an obligation for the candidate countries and member states.
All these are reasons for ANRC to transform universal access to communications services into a priority for the following period. The measures we have in mind will complete the ongoing measures taken by ANRC in order to foster market competition. Every day, ANRC receives more and more notifications regarding the companies’ intention to develop operations in this field, and the various electronic communications markets started to be aggressively attacked by competitors. We are pleased to see clear signs indicating that our efforts to promote competition in the communications industry were not in vain. Our satisfaction will be complete only when everyone in our country can benefit from this evolution and we can all celebrate Telecommunications Day as active participants to a communicating society.