Romanian hub for East European operations

US company Atlas Telecom Network, the supplier of semi-mobile telecommunication services (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications – DECT) has decided to coordinate its expansion to Central and Eastern Europe from Romania.

Atlas Telecom teamed up with Alcatel and launched last October, in Oradea, the first DECT network in Eastern Europe and is now planning to expand to Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Serbia and Montenegro.

“We have invested about 35 million dollars in Hungary, where the networks in Debrecen and Budapest have almost been completed,” Adrian Boca, commercial manager of Atlas Telecom told Ziarul Financiar. The company wants the tariffs for calls between Romania and Hungary to remain close to the local call prices, to appeal to users from both countries.

Atlas Telecom Hungary has the same shareholding structure as the group’s Romanian-based branch, namely the US company Atlas Telecom Network and Pompiliu Tripa, a Romanian citizen who is the company’s vice-president, in charge with the Eastern European operations. The telecom operator is looking at Bulgaria, Slovakia, Serbia and Montenegro, where it is planning to expand.

The network launched last year in Oradea has yet to achieve significant success. “We have some 1,200 subscribers in Oradea, but we have to consider the delays cause by the interconnection difficulties with the Romanian operators. The marketing campaign has not even started yet,” Boca said. The company has concluded interconnection agreements with RomTelecom, Orange and Connex and is still in talks with Zapp and Cosmorom.

According to Boca, Atlas Telecom is working on similar network, that will become operational in Timisoara and Bucharest by the end of the year. Moreover, the company has also started works in Constanta, Targu Mures and Arad.

The total investment made by the American company in Romania has been estimated at 100 million dollars by the commercial manager. The money came from the company’s own resources, but also from banking loans and investment funds. Atlas Telecom stands by its original target – one million subscribers by 2006, when it hopes to have at least 20 Romanian cities covered.

The Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications technology is used for the cordless phones and supplies the user with “limited mobility.”
dan.dragomir@zf.ro