New technology from Zapp

Mobile telephony operator Zapp, the only company running the CDMA 450 system in Romania, has announced its wireless broadband technology EV-DO (EVolution Data Optimized) is now available nationwide.

Zapp is providing the EV-DO technology as part of its Zapp Internet Express service that can be used in Bucharest and all the county capitals of Romania, company officials said.

“We are now providing Internet access that is at least three times faster and three times cheaper than before,” explained Miron Stratan, Zapp’s EV-DO project manager.

The implementation of this service, which enables data transfer at speeds of up to 2.4Mbps, required investment worth 30-40 million dollars, Zapp representatives said. The operator was even granted financing from banking institutions in order to be able to expand its network across the country.

“Based on our current subscription programme, the investment could be written off in five years,” said Victor Stan, Zapp’s director of technology. In the optimistic scenario, the operator will already have 30,000 users of the new service by the end of next year, Stan added.

Zapp Internet Express is now available in two packages: Zapp Internet Express 15 ($19 monthly subscription with 15 hours of Internet access included); and Zapp Internet Express 100 ($39 monthly subscription with 100 hours of Internet access included); while the modem costs $99 and additional data traffic will be charged at $0.02/min.

The new service is aimed at businesspeople and professionals that travel extensively throughout the country. The EV-DO technology allows the user to connect a laptop to the Internet using a modem no bigger or heavier than a pack of cigarettes. In the future, the modem will be incorporated into a mobile phone, so that all the services will be available straight from the mobile terminal with no laptop needed. dan.dragomir@zf.ro