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Dan Nica: Romania the third EU state to launch 4G technology
The spectrum auction held in 2012 allowed the 4G technology to be launched in Romania and the market to be reconfigured in terms of services provided to Romanians, says Minister for Informational Society Dan Nica in an interview given to Agerpres national press agency.
'Romania has become the third EU member state, in competition with Italy, to launch the 4G technology. We had a successful spectrum auction in 2012 which allowed the reconfiguration of the market in point of services to be provided to Romanians from now on. The telecom market went up by 3.5 percent over the first six months, in the context of the advance payments from the Internet access services, mobile telephone and rebroadcasting of AV channels by final users,' said Dan Nica, according to whom the ICT sector has always been a driving force for the Romanian economy.
As regards the events in 2012 in the ICT market, Dan Nica mentions among others that the Ministry has launched four auctions in the past half year, two of which regarding the national broadband strategic project.
Minister for Informational Society also says in the interview that some international ICT companies have been expressed their desire to invest in this area. 'The main force we have on the Romanian market is the professional human resources, which should be capitalized better and better,' he stresses.
According to the minister, the rate of drawing European funds allocated to this sector exceeded 55 percent, whereas the payments made exceeded 24 percent, with 567 contracts signed between the Ministry of Communications and Informational Society (current Ministry for Informational Society) through the Intermediate Agency Promoting Informational Society and beneficiaries, with a total value exceeding 188 million euros.
As regards the main projects for 2013, including the companies under the ministry, Dan Nica reminded that the Romanian Postal Company has entered a final lap before privatization, hoping that it will be a success.
'We will also try to consolidate what we have begun this year. The National Strategy for the Digital Agenda for Romania is a major basis for the medium- and long-term development of the ICT field in Romania. Considering its major importance, we have asked for the cooperation of the civil society, the partners in the business milieu and the colleagues at the coordinating agencies in major fields to achieve this strategy, which should help the market evolve in the right direction,' Dan Nica continued.
The priority of the European Commission for broadband for all European citizens is a priority for us too. We want to develop the public electronic services as well, and their extension will have a major contribution to the consolidation of the Single Digital Market, concluded the Minister for Informational Society.