The Cosmorom soap opera goes on. Communications and IT minister Dan Nica who attended the conference held at the opening of the Israel Hi-tech exhibition in Romania, said the Board of Directors of RomTelecom, the parent company of the mobile operator, was supposed to convene today to discuss the next instalment of Cosmorom's fate scenario.
"It is too early to be talking about the sale of Cosmorom. RomTelecom needs to find the best possible solution. Cosmorom is a company worth investing into, but since that means hundreds of millions of dollars, there aren't hundreds of thousands of companies interested," Dan Nica said.
The minister feels the most likely solution will be finding an investor to buy into Cosmorom, but not acquire majority. Nica hinted there would not be any contest to select investors and that five investment banks were reportedly interested to consider their options for the Cosmorom business.
Cosmorom, which accounts for a tiny bit of the mobile telephony market in Romania, logged 2.3-million euro operating revenues at the end of the third quarter, against losses of 7.4 million euros.
One of its major problems is the over $100 million debt, plus the added interest.
"I don't expect this process (i.e. making a decision about the mobile telephony operator) to take several months. A decision will probably be made in a matter of days," the minister added.
The Israeli delegation that attended the opening of the exhibition was also reserved. "I do not know what the Israeli companies have in mind, but they may be interested to invest in the Romanian communications sector, especially in view of further development of the third generation mobile telephony services," Ehud Olmert, Israel's vice-premier and minister of Industry and Communications said.
The Hi-Tech exhibition numbers 20 communications and technology companies among participants, such as Spacecom, Alvarion, Elscint, ECI Telecom, Cellphone Group, RAD Data Communications, Israel Aircraft Industries and Gideon Fisher.
The mobile telephony, the software industry and the satellite communications are among the main sectors in the Romanian economy wherein the Israeli companies have a business interest, according to minister Dan Nica. The hi-tech accounted for more than 60% of the Romanian-Israeli trade in 2003, up 40% from 1999, say the officials, who would not reveal the exact value, though.
"I know that a series of Israeli companies, such as Alvarion, have R&D centres open here, while others are interested to invest in 3.5 MHz wireless communications," Dan Nica concluded.
iuliana.susanu@zf.ro
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