Communications in Moldova

Moldova's telecommunications facilities are poor, but they were being upgraded in 1995. In 1990 Moldova had an average of twelve telephones per 100 inhabitants (heavily concentrated in urban areas), and there were more than 200,000 unfilled orders for telephone installation. In 1994 Moldova installed 23,800 telephone lines, which included public phones with direct international dialing capabilities. Some 10,000 digital lines in Chisinau were upgraded by a German company. In 1994 a new company in Chisinau, a joint venture with partners from Greece and Italy, was soon to produce automatic telephone exchanges at the rate of 50,000 lines a year.

The main daily newspaper in the republic, Moldova Suverana, is published by the government. Sfatul Tarii is published by Parliament, which also publishes the daily Nezavisimaya Moldova in Russian. Other principal newspapers include Rabochiy Tiraspol' (in Russian, the main newspaper of the Slavs in Transnistria), Tara, Tineretul Moldovei/Molodëzh Moldovy (in Romanian and Russian), and Viata satului (published by the government). The main cultural publication in Moldova is the weekly journal Literatura si arts, published by the Union of Writers of Moldova. Other principal periodicals include Basarabia (also published by the writers' union), Chiparus, Alunelul, Femeie Moldovei, Lanterna Magica, Moldova, Noi, and SudEst . Kishinëvskiye novosti, Kodry, and Russkoye slovo are Russian-language periodicals. Other minority-language periodicals include Prosvita and Homin in Ukrainian, Ana sözu and Cîrlangaci in Gagauz, Rodno slovo in Bulgarian, and Undzer col/Nash golos in Yiddish and Russian. In all, 240 newspapers (ninety-seven in Romanian) and sixty-eight magazines (thirty-five in Romanian) were being published in the republic in 1990. Basa Press, an independent news service, was established in November 1992.

Telephones - main lines in use: 627,000 (1997)

Telephones - mobile cellular: 2,200 (1997)

Telephone system: inadequate, outmoded, poor service outside Chisinau, some effort to modernize is under way
domestic: new subscribers face long wait for service; mobile cellular telephone service being introduced
international: service through Romania and Russia via landline; satellite earth stations - Intelsat, Eutelsat, and Intersputnik

Radio broadcast stations: AM 7, FM 50, shortwave 3 (1998)

Radios: 3.22 million (1997)

Television broadcast stations: 40 (1998)

Televisions: 1.26 million (1997)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 2 (1999)

Country code (Top level domain): MD

See also : Moldova