Compania Nationala de Transport al Energiei Electrice (National Electrical Power Transport Company) Transelectrica in a few months will order a survey to help it decide whether to enter the telecommunications market or not, once this sector becomes deregulated in 2003, Sorin Pispiris, head of the Investment and Development Department within the company told Ziarul Financiar.
According to Pispiris, the date of the tender to select the company to conduct the survey has not been set yet. Another option is a grant from the Japanese Government.
“The results of such as study will be available only by mid next year and they will tell us whether we can or cannot enter telecommunications market in 2003,” Pispiris says.
No matter the decision it will make, Transelectrica will proceed with the installation of the fibre optics network to be used for its activity.
The company is planning to invest more than $2 million in the project for installing a fibre optics network this year. The entire project is estimated to cost $100 million.
The money allotted for this year will be aimed at organising the tenders to select the company to execute the works, most likely to begin in October, as well as at making a down payment to the general contractor.
The actual works on the installation of the fibre optics will most likely begin in March next year, when the first 900 kilometres of fibre optics (one quarter of the total project) are scheduled for installation. This stage is estimated to cost $20 million.
According to Pispiris, the network ensures attaining five goals: the rehabilitation of the system transporting electrical power to the important stations in the system and of the links to the nearby countries, upgrading the telecommunications system of the company, installing a new EMS/SCADA system for managing and monitoring the running of the National Energy System (SEN), developing a MIS/GIS system destined to the management of all types of data and ensuring the proper conditions for the operation of the energy market, as well as installing a system to meter the amounts received by producers and those sent to the electrical power distributors.
The network is to provide data and voice transmissions, and even allow for video-conferencing, say Transelectrica officials.
“Transelectrica is and will remain an electrical power transport operator. It cannot become an operator on the telephony market unless it teams up with a powerful telecommunications investor for a joint-venture,” Sorin Pispiris says. He specified Transelectrica would not start looking for this strategic partner before the completion of the fibre optics network, that is no sooner than 2003-2004.