Romtelecom's new offer to preserve customers

Starting today, Romtelecom subscribers can have unlimited local calls within the network, for a 37 lei (some €11) monthly fee, and calls to mobile networks for €0.9 per minute. 

The company also halved all its ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) Internet fees, according to Romtelecom’s newly-appointed General Manager, Yorgos Ioannidis.

During a press conference yesterday, Ioannidis announced both the new offers, which includes Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), a system where a digital television service is delivered using the Internet, and Romtelecom’s new management team. He also spoke about the company’s development strategy for the next three years. The strategy focuses on offers for the residential market, according to Ioannidis, who was reluctant to provide details on offers for the business segment.  At present, a mere 28.44 percent of Romtelecom’s revenues come from corporates. Some 51 percent of revenues come from the residential market, while a further 17 percent are from services sold to other operators.

Ioannidis’ announcement refers to a first step to stopping its subscribers from choosing other fixed phone companies. One of its main competitors, RCS/RDS, reached 650,000 subscribers for fixed phone services, and 450,000 broadband internet subscribers by the end of March. At the end of 2006, Romtelecom had 3.4 million phone subscribers, compared to 3.9 million in 2005.

Ioannidis also announced that Romtelecom will launch an offer by the end of the year with its mobile phone partner, Cosmote,  for fixed and mobile voice services, data and “mobile multitainment” - a combination of satellite TV, and internet access for PC and mobile phone.

Romtelecom’s main shareholder is the Greek OTE Group, which has 54.01 percent of the share capital. The Romanian state owns the remaining shares (44.99 percent), through its Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.