“This deal confirms that Romania is a strategic priority for Orange because we came with additional capital on this market,” Stephane Richard, chairman and CEO of Orange group, told ZF.
The group believes in the long-term prospects of the Romanian economy and its appetite for digital transformation, as well as its presence in this country. The deal will take the revenue to about EUR2 billion in Romania or about 5% of Orange’s EUR42 billion revenue, and Romania will become one the top five markets for Orange in the world, the executive added.
The French group will gain the ability to grow because it will have its own fixed network to rely on, following the former Romtelecom acquisition, Stephane Richard says. What it is buying now is a platform and the potential to be a more aggressive competitor to Digi and to a certain extent to Vodafone. Digi is now the leader of the fixed and TV and high-speed internet markets, so combining Orange and Telekom Romania on the fixed segment will clearly create a very attractive alternative to Digi, the Orange official added.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)