As of September last year, a mysterious investment fund hiding behind a Cyprus offshore, Belledune Holdings, the sole shareholder of Cobalt IT, spent some €5 million to buy 25 neighborhood networks, thus creating a 45,000 subscriber portfolio for Bucharest, Constanta and Ploiesti. Among the networks they acquired (90 percent of them are in Bucharest) are Evolva Telecom, Pronet Communications, ITZ Networks, Webspace, Fornex, according to Adrian Petrus, Evolva's Development Manager.
By the end of this year, Cobalt wants to double the number of subscribers, reaching some 90,000, by maintaining an accelerated rhythm in neighborhood network acquisitions. It will invest some €10 million in new buyouts. The value of acquisitions so far amounts to some €100 per subscriber.
According to Business Standard sources, Cobalt intends to obtain a significant position in the tri-play operators market (television, voice and Internet), along with RCS-RDS, UPC and Romtelecom, and it will acquire more networks in Bucharest, Ploiesti, Constanta and Buzau. The company has indicated that it met with several failures in terms of its acquisition campaign because the networks did not meet certain basic criteria, such as number of subscribers, infrastructure and equipment quality.
As of next month, Cobalt might begin providing digital television service, if the National Audio-Visual Council (CNA) approves its strategy, added Petrus. For the time being, some upgrading is necessary for equipment so that all users benefit from a similar quality of services.
