Providing integrated telecommunications services, which entail fixed Internet access and fixed telephone services besides mobile telephone services, is a priority for Vodafone Romania, which will expand its offer on this segment, with particular emphasis on small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as large companies.
"We will strengthen our corporate and SME product offer - this is the next extension of our business," stated Arun Sarin, CEO of the British Vodafone group, the world's biggest mobile telephony operator in terms of revenues. Sarin believes that the entrance of mobile operators onto the landline telephone market is a natural progression, considering the entire mobile telephone industry is changing.
"We are still the biggest mobile telephone company in the world, but we are now on a road that will take us from exclusively providing mobile telephone services to what I call Mobile Plus. We are interested in broadband Internet, fixed telephony and increasing the level of payments via mobile phone," Vodafone's head stated.
Sarin cited the Romanian mobile telephone market as an example where although growth rates are very good, integrated services could create new opportunities for the operator to boost its revenues.
"Mobile telephony generates very good growth rates in itself. The mobile telephone services market in Romania has penetrated 90% of the market and could reach 110% or 120% because people own several SIM cards. This in itself is a good growth, but once we have entered the broadband market, we can offer some very interesting solutions to corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises. If I run a small company, all I need is a mobile phone and a data card to access the Internet. Our solutions are a total replacement for fixed telephony," stated Arun Sarin, one of the world's top executives. "Mobile solutions cannot compete with landlines, which is why we have our own fibre optics infrastructure and our WiMax wireless network. We are building our business here, be it corporate or consumer."
Vodafone has launched fixed telephone services for individuals and companies and has 6,000 corporate clients for its integrated service department, which was established before the takeover by Vodafone in 2005.
Two years after the deal, which involved Vodafone paying more than 1.5 billion euros to take over Connex, Arun Sarin stated that the performance of the subsidiary in Romania has been better than expected.
"Every time we buy a company, we have to estimate how the business will evolve over the next two years. I can say that (i.e. for Vodafone Romania) we have exceeded the goals in our internal business plan. Results are therefore above our expectations," added Arun Sarin.
Last year, Vodafone Romania significantly managed to narrow the gap that separates it from the market leader, Orange Romania (held by France Telecom). In 2005, Orange Romania's business was more than 130 million euros higher than Vodafone's, however the gap narrowed to some 50 million euros last year.
Pentru alte știri, analize, articole și informații din business în timp real urmărește Ziarul Financiar pe WhatsApp Channels
