February 2001

Albania Summary Report (1999 - 2000)

2.1 Investments in Telecommunication field

2.1.1 Albtelecom has sought to develop telephony through optic fiber outside Albania. In August 1999, it signed a new agreement with Montenegro Telecom regarding the project of optic fiber transmission in a distance of 16 km from Shkodra to Murriqan. In December Albtelecom finished the work for extending the cable up to the Yugoslavia border. Similar things are expected to be made with Macedonia Telecom during 2001. This will facilitate the communication with other countries, as well as will decrease the costs of services.

2.1.2 On 29 December 1999 the extension of the existing telecom central, which could double the capacity of transit telephonic central for urban and interurban links, was inaugurated. Participants in the inaugural ceremony ranged from the President and the Prime Minister to General Director of Albtelecom, IT professionals, and other experts. Through this project, the number of cooperation channels are increased by 20.000, substantially improving the telephony service and developing the new central according to the telecom development strategy. The extension of the main central capacity creates the possibilities for interconnections in the liberalized market, as well as the possibilities for cooperating with the mobile phone company, AMC.

2.1.3 Launching of "Alba Post" objectives, as well as the up to date achievements in 1999 in a press release, held in Tirana, December 15, 1999. Alba Post is the only postal company in Albania, which is seeking access in new postal services and improvement of existing services. During 1999 the reconstruction of the Post buildings has concluded in many districts of Albania. The computerization of services in these areas have also started. The main objectives of Alba Post are to computerize the postal services in general, especially the EMS, which faces competition and market liberalization, and to establish a Post Bank. It will be able to extend the electronic transfers and will improve the quality of existing services.

2.1.4 On February 18, Alcatel assigned a contract to add 5000 phone numbers, of which 2000 were allocated to the Delvine district and 3000 to the Saranda and Pogradec districts. Installation started in March. This project aimed to improve the existing network by replacing the existing depreciated technology with a new contemporary technology that enables access to the Internet.

2.1.5 During the period June-September 2000 Albtelecom has mainly focused on improving the necessary infrastructure of telecommunications, through several investments in this field. To provide the necessary telephone central equipment, for extending the subscribers in Albania, Albtelecom assigned a cooperation contract with Siemens company in Munich, Germany.

As a result of such investments, new telephone centrals (over 50000 lines) were installed in Tirana, Saranda, Delvina, Pogradeci, Durresi.

On 12 July 2000 a new telephone central of 33 000 lines was inaugurated in Tirana. On 9 September 2000 a new central of 12 000 lines was inaugurated in Saranda and Delvina. And on , 18 September 2000 a new central of 5000 lines was inaugurated in Pogradeci.

Since 1 July, Albtelecom is providing two additional services:

1. Subscriber can change the secret telephone code at their home or office. It will no longer be necessary for subscribers to make changes at the respective telecomm office or to ask somebody to do this for them.
2. The subscribers in Tirana will be able to know by themselves how many impulses they used before they receive the receipts from Albtelecom.

1000 ISDN lines are ready for service now. They are installed in Tirana and will be very soon extended in other districts. It is planned that 128 ISDN lines each will be installed in Saranda and Pogradeci. Albania will use for the first time the ISDN lines. These lines will serve to facilitate data communication, as well as to accelerate the data transmission, with a speed of 64KB/sec.

Albtelecom has accomplished at the end of September (September 30, 2000) the emergency project for setting the conventional lines between communes. 4 lines were installed per centre of 120 communes, which account for 34% of the communes in Albania. This development is particularly important considering several villages could not have telephone access for several years.

2.2 Privatisation of AMC Company

Since July 1999 an open invitation of expression has been launched for participation in the AMC privatisation process through an open bid. After six months the Ministry of Public Economy and Privatisation with the consultant of IMI Italian company published the 5 possible companies which are competing for buying the AMC. They were: "Turcell"; "Mobil Austria" "Telecom Italia"; "Cosmote-Telenor International" and "Panafon Greece". They came in Albania to make a "due to intelligence" analysis.

The consortium Cosmote-Telenor won the open tender on May 15, 2000, buying 85% of shares of the AMC Company with a value of 85 million USD. All the privatisation procedures were completed by July 30, 2000 with the contract assignment.

2.3. Licensing of the second mobile operator in Albania

During the first quarter of 2001, it is expected that there will be an open international tender for the second mobile operator in Albania. The Ministry of Public Economy and Privatisation is going to proceed in the same manner as it did with the open tender for privatisation of AMC Company. The tender for the second mobile operator was launched after the completion of the privatisation of AMC.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Entity (TRE) has announced its intent to limit mobile communications to only two parallel services.

In August 2000 the tender for the second mobile operator in Albania was launched by Ministry of Public Economy and Privatization. In September all the procedures for application for the second mobile operator in Albania were published online on the Internet: www.albaniagsmtender.com.al.

The Ministry of Public Economy and Privatization and the Telecommunication Regulatory Entity have been totally engaged with the procedures of the open tender on licensing the second mobile communication operator as well as presenting them on the Internet.

The ARUP Company (www.arup.com) is the consultant company that is assisting the TRE and MEPP in this process.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is supporting TRE in preparing the necessary documentation for conducting the international tender.

Until now 4 competitive companies have been preselected:

Mobilkom-Austria; Vodafon –Air touch; Turk Cell; and Rumeli Telekom. Their offers are expected to be opened on 8 January 2001 while the license for the Tender Winner is expected to be issued on February 15.

So, Albania is expected to have the second mobile operator active on March 2001.

2.4 Investments on technical supplies for Albanian Telegraphic Agency

On January 6, Reuters gave the Albanian Telegraphic Agency (ATA) a gift of 50 computers. These computers really improved ATA’s technical capability providing to journalists the necessary professional equipment. ATA correspondents in various districts of the country can also use these computers. The gift was a sign of further cooperation between the two organisations. Every month, Reuters offers its subscribers 2000 news items authorised by the ATA.

2.5 Ericson

On January 25, the well-known Swedish company Ericson, which plans to invest in the telecommunications sector, opened its representative office in Albania. The arrival of Ericson suggests an increase in foreign investment, in particular Swedish investment in the telecommunications sector. During the Kosovo crises, Ericson invested around US$2 million in mobile connection in the northern Kuksi district.

2.6 Albtelekom got the license as a National ISP.

The installation of Back Bone Internet network has been completed in July 2000. TRE issued to them the license as a National ISP. At present, Alb telecom is ready to operate as a national ISP, as well as Back Bone operator. It is still negotiating with the local ISP to provide them Back Bone service.

2.7 TRE issued a license to Cybernet company - to operate as an ISP.

On June 2000, TRE issued a license to Cybernet Company to operate as an ISP. Cybernet will improve the quality of service and will increase the number of people having access to Internet, thus promoting information society in Albania.

2.8 During the last quarter of 2000 TRE issued the licenses for 9 operators of the rural telephony.

They are operating separately from the Albtelekom Company. So, it means that it is increased the competition in this field, which would generate better services and greater public benefits.

3.1 The AMC reduced the cell prices for the new subscribers during the 10 last days of year 1999. AMC, the only operator in Mobile phony in Albania, has launched a 20-day period of reducing mobile phone prices, from December 6 to December 28, in order to increase the number of subscribers. It will of course facilitate the development of communication system all over the country. AMC, being a monopoly company in Albania, has charged very high prices for mobile phones. So, only the richest people are able to pay for mobile phones. This discount period will provide others with an opportunity to buy mobile phones with cheaper prices

3.2 Establishment of a training centre for librarians. On February 29, the Ministry of Culture, in cooperation with the SOROS Foundation, established a training center for librarians. This center aims to train librarians on how they can integrate the library with the current technological advancement, thus allowing them to communicate with their patrons through computers. This center aims also to increase access to the Internet and to promote the use of modern technology.

3.3 Organisation of a training course in Italy for experts of the Internet Back Bone Project in Albania: This course was supported by Albtelecom (deti@iname.com) and will be conducted by Italian experts in the telecommunications field, in particular the Internet. Through the training course, participants will learn how to better implement the Internet Back Bone project in Albania.

3.4 Publication of the Directory of export-import enterprises in Tirana region by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (root@ccitr.tirana.al): The directory gathered the necessary information regarding businesses operating in the Tirana region. It also increases the public’s access to business information regarding the foreign homologues companies available at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

3.5 Publication of the Practical Guide of Tirana by Çelesi Design newspaper (celesi@albaniaonline.net): Çelesi Design is a relatively new periodically newspaper published every Saturday in Tirana. This practical guide is useful for both tourists and Albanians. Included in the guide is information regarding business issues, banks, hotels, restaurants, museums, culture, entertainment, medical service, etc. This guide is the first publication dedicated to the capital city of Albania since its transition 10 years ago.

3.6 Installation of Intranet in the directories of the Ministry of Education and Science: The Intranet is planned to be extended to universities in Albania. It will greatly facilitate the interconnection between institutions in different districts and will also help computerise documents prepared by the Ministry.

3.7. The Telecommunications Regulatory Entity organized a seminar on ISPs in Albania on 22 May 2000. The seminar aimed to gather all the experts of telecommunications field such as ISPs, Albtelecom users, TRE, to discuss the technical issues in developing ISPs.

3.8. On 29 November 2000 the Ministry of Economic and Trade Cooperation, in cooperation with the Union of Chambers of commerce and some other private companies, organized the seminar on "E-commerce". The Seminar was held in the Palace of Congresses, in which was developed the international exhibition of 2000, organized by "Klik Expo Klik" Company. The Minister of Economic Cooperation and Trade was leading the seminar. Participants discussed the Albanian conditions for developing the E-commerce, as well as the importance of such international exhibitions to set links between foreign partners, and to continue their cooperation in the future.

3.9. On 20 December 2000 the AMC Company offered to the market Cell-phones with cards. They were cheaper than the ordinarily cell-phones, and people was ready to get access on this kind of service. It seems that people is "hungry" of having access on communication services.