​On Tuesday, at a plenary session, the parliament approved Vlad Bontea (PSD) and Pavel Popescu (PNL) as vice-presidents of ANCOM, the body that regulates the electronic communications market worth almost 3.5 billion euros. At the hearing, two deputies did not know how to answer basic technical questions in telecommunications, and now they have 3 months to leave the party they belong to, so that there is no incompatibility.

• We will also remind that in May of this year, Valeriu Zgonya, the former chairman of the PSD Chamber of Deputies, was appointed the president of ANCOM.

On Tuesday, October 10, the parliament approved Vlad Bontya, who is supported by the PSD, who scored 249 votes “for” and 101 “against”, and PNL deputy Pavel Popescu – 243 votes “for” and 107 “against”.

Their mandate is for 6 years.

The other candidates were the current ANCOM vice-presidents, whose terms expire today, Bohdan Jana and Eduard Lovin, Mihai Eftimije and Corneliu Menescu, respectively, who were rejected after receiving fewer votes.

Earlier, the Parliamentary Committees on Information Technology of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate positively approved all the nominations submitted for the two positions of ANCOM Vice Presidents, which are becoming vacant as a result of the expiration of the current mandate.

During parliamentary committee hearings broadcast via USR video, parliamentarians recognized two ANCOM vice presidents, engineers with decades of experience in the industry, who managed the spectrum auctions.

On the other hand, two people supported by PSD and PNL did not know how to answer the technical questions of the parliamentarians, especially the USR MP, Miruță Radu Daniel, secretary of the IT commission in the Chamber of Deputies.

Vlad Bontya, PSD: I believe that I have good managerial relations. I am a thin man who listens

The first candidate heard by deputies and senators was Member of National Assembly Vlad Bontya, former head of PSD Strehaia-Mehedinți.

According to his resume, between 2006 and 2012 he was director of the security department at the Romanian Security Agency, and in 2012 he was appointed vice president of the National Consumer Protection Authority.

According to Romania Liberă, Vlad Bonti’s wife’s uncle would be General Dumitru Iliescu, the first head of Romania’s Security and Protection Service (SPP), an extremely controversial figure involved in several political scandals.

During the hearing, Vlad Bontya said that he worked privately until 2014, when he joined the state administration. He also said that he was the deputy general secretary of AEP (a permanent electoral body), and in 2016-2020 he was a people’s deputy.

• “I think I have a good management relationship, I am a person who listens, for me that is the challenge of ANCOM given the speed at which we are growing,” he said.

Deputy: What is the difference between the electromagnetic spectrum and the radio spectrum? Bontea: I will answer you in writing

A moment of questions from the parliamentarians followed, and USR MP Miruce Radu Daniel, secretary of the IT committee of the Chamber of Deputies, signaled possible problems related to the lack of experience in the field of IT and Communication.

• “Congratulations on the support of your party. I look at your resume and I can only see that you graduated from an obscure university called Bioterra, and that your only experience before entering politics was working as a watchmaker.
• Now you will be the vice-president of one of the most important institutions of the Romanian state, where I expect you to have a little idea of ​​what will happen, and I would like to ask you, because we are at the hearing: what is the difference between the electromagnetic spectrum and the radio spectrum? “, – said the UDR deputy.

The PSD candidate for the position of ANCOM leader did not know what to answer.

• “I will answer you in writing. I am not a person who has full knowledge of this technique, but at the same time I can tell you that, as I told you before, managerial qualities, and the law also says that I can be a lawyer, an economist or with a background in communication.
• I know much of what you want to ask me, but for a concrete answer I promise to answer you in writing.” he said.

Radio frequency spectrum (radio spectrum)under current law, represents that part of the electromagnetic spectrum that includes radio waves whose frequencies range from 9 kHz to 3,000 GHz, according to the ANCOM website.

MP: What do you know about 5G other than 5? Bontya: We are not at the desired level

Another question came from PNL MP Pawel Popescu, candidate for vice-president of ANCOM, who wanted to know Bontea’s vision of what the telecommunications arbiter can do for the development of 5G networks.

• “From the point of view of the development of 5G, I can tell you that the big problem that ISPs face when developing the network is those building permits that they get very late.
• I think ANCOM can do an awareness campaign at the level of each county because the benefits are quite significant, especially from an educational point of view.” Vlad Bontya said.

This was when the UDR deputy insisted: “What do you know about 5G, apart from 5?”

• “I just said that we are not at the same level. We are talking about 3G, 4G and 5G. We are usually at a time when we should be talking about 5G. We are not going back to the past anyway. I said, unfortunately, we’re in a bad position in this chapter and if I’m voted in, I’m going to strategize about it.” Vlad Bontya answered.

Pawel Popescu, PNL: I am known, and I say this with all humility, as a promoter of 5G legislation in Romania

The second candidate approved by the parliament today for the position of vice-president of ANCOM was Pavel Popescu, vice president of PNL and the president of PNL Sector 4. Pavel Popescu is a member of the IT commission in the Chamber of Deputies.

Former head of the defense committee in the Chamber of Deputies, Popescu was removed from his post at the request of PNL president Nicolae Chuke, after harshly criticizing former foreign minister Bohdan Aurescu in public.

On Tuesday, at the hearings in the parliament, Pavel Popescu announced that he wants to end his political career and move to the executive branch, where he will be able to apply the laws he worked on in the parliament.

• “I am known, and I say this with all humility, as the promoter of the 5G legislation in Romania, the first law in Europe in this field, which set the standards for other countries. Romania was also the first country in the world to sign a 5G Memorandum with the US.
• It was an incredibly difficult period in my life, because no one believed that Romania could say “No” to big financial and political interests.” Pavel Popescu announced this on Tuesday.

Deputy: What is the representation of the number 11 in base 16? Pavel Popescu: I do not know and I am not ashamed to say so

He was also challenged by the USR MP, Miruță Radu Daniel, Secretary of the Chamber of Deputies’ IT Commission.

• “You have positioned yourself as a specialist in the field of networks and telecommunications. There is nothing on your resume that gives you a reason to position yourself there.
• If I look at the last 6 years, before you were a parliamentarian (…) you tried to go to a public college that you didn’t graduate from, you went to an unknown private college that you graduated from. (..)
• But still, I believe that you have a CCNA course, a parameter that can connect you a little with what should be in ANCOM,” said deputy Radu Miruce.

He then asked him a question related to this CISCO networking course.

• “How is the number 11 represented in the base 16? Because IPv6 works with base 16 numbers and ANCOM has something to do with these things,” asked the SDR people’s deputy.

It was the moment when Sabin Sarmash (PNL) and the president of the IT commission in the Chamber of Deputies defended his colleague from the party, Pavel Popescu, stressing that “these are not very easy issues, even if they are basic.”

• “I am also a telecommunications engineer. These were not very easy questions on the exam..not the most difficult. After 10 years in the profession, there are engineers who think for about 10 minutes before answering these questions correctly, even if they are basic.” said PNL MP Sabin Sarmash.

In response, Pavel Popescu said that he did not know the answer.

• “I will not answer these technical questions to Mr. Mirutsa, I do not know them and I am not ashamed to say so.” – said Pavel Popescu.

Deputy EDR: Calculation is not required. The number 11 in the base 16 is equal to B

However, the UDR deputy insisted that this is a fundamental technical issue in the field of telecommunications.

• “I have been in the parliament for 7 years. These questions have nothing to do with Cisco’s CCNA, and the calculations I would have to do here today from an engineering perspective would exceed the time allotted to this committee.”, answered Pavlo Popescu.

However, this was denied by the UDR deputy.

• “The fact that you say it’s unrelated casts doubt on your resume.
• You can’t tell me that IP addressing and going from base 2 to base 10 or base 16 has nothing to do with what you wrote (not in your resume).
• Maybe the problem is that you don’t relate to what you wrote there.”, – said the UDR deputy.

Liberal Sabin Sarmash once again rushed to the aid of his party colleague Pavlo Popescu, saying that calculations would be needed to answer such a question.

• “Mr Miruce is trying to make a connection between some engineering calculations and some networking courses available to anyone who wants to do them.” answered Pavlo Popescu.

The UDR deputy answered the two liberals that no calculations were needed to answer this question.

• “The number 11 in base 16 does not require calculations. The number 11 in the base 16 is B. The number 12 is C, the number 10 is A.”, said Radu Meeruta.

In the end, the liberal Sabin Sarmash, president of the IT commission in the Chamber of Deputies, offered to overcome this moment.

All 6 candidates were heard and voted by the IT committees in the parliament, and the plenary session finally voted for the two persons proposed by PSD and PNL.

HotNews.ro was contacted by Pawel Popescu, who explained what steps he would take to avoid a possible state of incompatibility as vice president of ANCOM.

• “I have resigned from the position of vice-president of the PNL and president of the PNL Sector 4 organization, after the publication of the appointment in the Official Gazette that I will resign as a deputy,” Pavlo told HotNews. .ro on Tuesday Popescu.

According to the current law of ANCOM, the president and vice-presidents of this body are not allowed to be members of any political party during the exercise of their powers and have 3 months to get out of a possible state of incompatibility.

Orange, Vodafone and RCS&RDS share their €3.5 billion telecoms market

Revenues in the telecommunications sector registered a slight decrease in 2022 (-1%) and amounted to 16.9 billion lei.

Fixed and mobile Internet brought 35% of total revenues, mobile communication – 32%, retransmission of TV programs – 15%, fixed communication – 9%, other types of networks/services – 9%.

In terms of revenues received from the provision of electronic communication networks and services, the first 3 providers were: Orange group (40%), Vodafone (24%) and DIGI/RCS&RDS (24%).