August 29, 2007, Zimbru, Arad county. Today, the Vice-president of the National Regulatory Authority for Communications and Information Technology, Codruta Meran and Claudiu Velimirovici, Manager of the Sales Area Department of Radiocom – the National Society for Radiocommunications – have met with the users of the telecentre installed in Zimbru, Arad county by Radiocom, in order to test the telephone and Internet services offered. “The telecentre should become a centre of knowledge, a place where both young and old people can find means to communicate and get informed, so necessary today, whether they live in the rural or the urban area. The openness that people showed to our initiative and the results we have had so far following the installation of telecentres give us a lot of confidence and prove once more the importance communications have in the development of each person”, Codruta Meran, Vice-President of ANRCTI, declared. “Radiocom is aware of the importance that communications have and this fact is also highlighted by the great number of telecentres where Radiocom was designated as a universal service provider. Facilitating the access to communications, for as many Romanians as possible, is extremely important and the 144 telecentres which Radiocom installed contribute to enabling the inhabitants of the communities with limited access to the telephone and Internet services to be connected to the topical events, as well as to have equal chances to access information and more”, Claudiu Velimirovici, Manager of the Sales Area Department of Radiocom said. The 232 telecentres installed so far are examples of good practice, proving the interest people have for knowledge and development and highlighting the benefices the telecentres bring in the communities’ development. In Susani, Valcea county, a villager sold his goat flock on the Internet; in the same county, in Mologesti, most of the classes are held in the telecentre and the mayor decided that the Internet access be free of charge; in Fantanele, Dambovita county, two more PCs were added and the villagers proposed to use the telecentre as the unique office for paying the utilities (water, electricity, radio-TV tax, bank rate). These are only few examples, but each community has succeeded to use efficiently the facilities offered by the telecentre and be connected to the world. The telecentre launched today is part of the national programme for installation of telecentres in villages with limited access or without access to telephony services, initiated by ANRCTI in 2004. So far, ANRCTI has organized 5 tenders for the installation of telecentres in 331 localities. On June 1, 2007, was launched the sixth tender for the installation of telecentres in 131 localities and the seventh tender is to be launched for the purpose of installing telecentres in other 139 localities. Out of the 10 telecentres afferent to Arad county, 6 are already functional. The remaining telecentres are to become functional by end-2007.
