Telecommunications is the most rapidly growing sector in Albania, minister says

TIRANA, Feb 8ؔhe telecommunications sector is Albania’s most dynamic in terms of economic growth, Minister of State Genc Pollo reported.
“This sector recorded growth of 34.3% in third-quarter 2009 compared to third-quarter 2008, up 20.5% compared to second-quarter 2009,” Pollo said in a statement.
The increase resulted from the introduction of a third mobile phone operator in the Albanian market, which has boosted competition, lowered prices, and improved quality in other operators, he added.
Mobile services are one of the fastest growing during the last decade. In 1996, only 2,300 subscribers had mobile service while by the end of 2007 the market had almost 2 million customers. Currently, three operators dominate the market. The first is Albanian Mobile Communication (AMC), a state-owned company that was sold in 1999 to a joint-venture partnership between COSMOTE (Greece) and TELENOR (Norway). The second license was granted in 2001 to Vodafone Albania, owned by a consortium composed of Vodafone (UK) and Panafon (Greece). A third mobile license was granted in March 2004 to Albtelecom and became operational by March 2008. Initially, Eagle Mobile covered only a part of the country before expanding later. In a very short period of 6 months, Eagle Mobile covered the entire territory of the country by exceeding the limits of speed and predictions. On December 31st, 2008, the company attained coverage by 97% of the population of the country and 90,7% of the territory of the country by providing services in the whole Albania.
The government of Albania has also granted a fourth license to an Albanian consortium in order to further increase competition.