Romtelecom
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Romtelecom_logo.gif
Romtelecom is a large telecommunication company in Romania, that had the monopoly for the provision of fixed telephony until January 1, 2003. Currently, according to their web site, the company has over 4.2 million customers.
Formerly owned by the Romanian state, the company now belongs to Hellenic Telecommunications Organization OTE, major shareholder, with 54,01% of the shares. The rest of 45,99% of the shares remain in possession of the state.
History
In 1930, SART (Societatea Anonimă Romānă de Telefoane) (The Anonymous Romanian Phone Company) was founded, more than 90% of its value being a foreign investition from ITT.
During this period (1930 - 1933), Palatul Telefoanelor (The Palace of Telephony), a historical building in Bucharest, was built by SART. Although the building has suffered from several earthquakes and a bombardment, it is still standing, and it currently undergoes a reconstruction and reconsolidation process.
In 1949, the SART company was nationalised and turned into a division of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. The slow pace of technological development that ensued was in accordance with a more general trend in the country during the communist period, which lasted until 1989.
In December 1989, ROM-POST-TELECOM was created as a post and telecommunications operator, independent of the Ministry. The current name of Romtelecom was given after a reorganization in July 1991, when the state-owned company was also given the monopoly for basic telecommunications services.
In 1998, a share of 35% was sold the Greek company OTE. A corruption case arised around details of this privatisation, but eventually no measures were taken.
Presently OTE has acquired an addition 18% of the shares and has thus become the majority share holder of the company.
Poor service and expensive fees is the main characteristic of the company. Poor policy, such as constantly increasing fees for local calls (where 90% of all calls occur) and lowering fees for international calls (that are still twice as expensive as those offered by mobile or fixed alternatives) generally drive people away from Romtelecom. With more than 10.000.000 mobile subscribers in Romania, and a supplementary 250.000 fixed telephony subscribers at newly formed rival companies (such as RDS.tel or Astral). The development of the company has mostly been put on hold since 2004.
Subsidiaries
Romtelecom also owns several smaller companies: Artelecom (Internet service provider), Cosmorom (Mobile phone operator) and CableVision of Romania (providing Cable television services).
External links
- Romtelecom (http://www.romtelecom.ro/en/)ro:Romtelecom