From Mr T. Peco B.Sc.(Hons.) IT

It will take more than rhetoric on the part of Ms Grace Borg to uncover any Balkan conspiracies related to televoting and I wish her luck. Just to put the record straight in matters technical though, I would like to point out that Albanian “telecommunication capabilities” are provided by three major telecom companies.

Albanian Mobile Communication (AMC), the first mobile operator was launched in May 1996 and had a customer base of approximately 641,058 by the end of the first quarter of 2004, according to official data. It went on to post a 20 per cent rise in its first-quarter net profit and an 18 per cent increase in revenues in early 2005.

Vodafone, the world's largest, was awarded Albania's second GSM mobile phone licence on 9 June 2001, having offered the highest bid of USD38 million in an international tender. Its customer base stood at 438,598 as of June 2003.

Both operators have websites in English, with network coverage maps and other technical details. They can be reached at www.amc.al and www.vodafone.al

Albtelekom, the fixed line operator went far out to offer coverage to make up for the inadequate fixed lines legacy, while also providing Internet access and even broadband connections over ISDN, ADSL, VDSL and radio modems. It also obtained a licence to launch the third GSM operator under the brand name “Eagle Mobil”.

There also exist regional VSAT Internet and VOIP providers as well as 13 AM, 5 FM, and two shortwave radio stations (2002 data). A dozen or more TV stations have analogue, T-DVB (Terrestrial Digital Video Broadcasting) and even satellite coverage.

International traffic is carried by microwave radio relay from the Tirana exchange to Italy and Greece and by underwater optic fibre to Brindisi, Italy.

What I am trying to point out is that the infrastructure might not exactly be on a par with Silicon Valley or Tokyo, but it is certainly adequate to carry out televoting. I will be glad to offer more up-to-date technical details to Ms. Borg, should she require any, as I happen to work and study in the field.

Finally, the country codes of Albania and Romania are 355 and 40 respectively, should she decide to call anybody and admit being rather unpolished and perhaps brusque in her comments.

Thimaq Peco

B.Sc.(Hons.) I.T.

Gzira