GlobalNET head quits

Liviu Nistoran, general manager of GlobalNET, Romania’s leading dealer of Nokia handsets has quit on Thursday, arguing differences with GlobalNET’s owner, France-based Avenir Telecom.
“The reasons for my decision to quit the general manager position at GlobalNET Avenir Telecom have to do with my different vision of the changes proposed by the French partners,” Liviu Nistoran explains.
How did the break-up between Liviu Nistoran and the French shareholder of GlobalNET occur?
“First of all, it is about the brand change. The name of the company has already been changed to Avenir Telecom and they are also planning to change the name of the stores,” Liviu Nistoran told Ziarul Financiar.
Second, this is about differences over the business model that should be embraced by the company in the future. Nistoran did not want to favour one mobile telephony operator over another and was planning to steer the company towards fixed telephony firms. Avenir Telecom, however, wants a closer, exclusive relation with Orange Romania, Nistoran says. GlobalNET is, after all, Orange’s number two dealer (7% of the market, according to its management estimates), after Euro GSM. Avenir Telecom chose not to comment on the resignation of the GlobalNET manager.
Liviu Nistoran’s position will be filled by Petrut Stoica, GlobalNET’s current deputy general manager. Stoica has been with the company for five years and was sales manager at some point. 
Liviu Nistoran will remain in the business world, but as an investor this time. “I will continue to invest in the Romanian economy, but this time I’ll do it as an investor, and not as a contractor, manager or employer. On the other hand, I want a more active political involvement,” he explains.
Nistoran established GlobalNET together with two partners in 1997, when GSM mobile telephony services were first launched in Romania. He later bought one of his partners out and came to hold 70% of the company. GlobalNET was taken over by French Avenir Telecom in 2000, with the exact amount of the deal yet undisclosed.
iuliana.susanu@zf.ro