Romtelecom continues to fight for landline phone supremacy

Officials of the UPC Romania operator believe that the greatest battle is on the integrated service front, known in Romania as the Triple Play service market, or “battle for the home” in general.

“Landline phone services are the pillar of Romtelecom services, to which internet and television services are added,” said Lucian Lupasu, Data Marketing Manager of UPC Romania. A study conducted by the Analysys Research company regarding the landline phone market indicated that the slow downfall of the fixed phone services, forecast by analysts in the field, will become a very rapid one. 

Though telecom operators are still battling for landline phone subscribers in Romania, the difference between fixed and mobile phone services was almost threefold in favor of mobile phone services in 2006, considering that fixed phone services ranked just below those of mobile phone services in 2004.   

As of September 3, Romtelecom subscribers will be able to talk free of charge between all fixed Romanian phone networks, according to Romtelecom officials. The new offer is aimed at customers with one of the company's subscription plans which includes minutes: Confort 50, Confort 200, and Confort Unlimited. Subscription fees start at €7.8/month (Confort 50), with the Confort Unlimited costing €11.2/month. “Results of the new tariff diagram, which brings individuals more value for landline phone services, have begun to be visible. Clients have welcomed Romtelecom’s new commercial approach,” said Yorgos Ioannidis, Romtelecom's CEO. Romtelecom's fixed phone service subscribers dropped by 613,159 at the end of the first quarter of 2007, reaching 3.22 million by the end of Q2.