“We estimate data traffic will more than double next year,” Stefan Slavnicu, chief technology officer of Orange, told ZF in an interview. He is in charge of several hundred people and manages a budget of tens of millions of euros a year.
The main growth factor of the data traffic is the fast-paced adoption of smartphones, Slavnicu says.
“There is no linear connection between the number of post-paid users and the traffic they use but at the same time we can see that a small rise in customer numbers can generate a surge in data traffic. I watch this traffic increase that comes with the adoption of smartphones for network sizing reasons.”
More than 50% of the phones Orange is now selling are smartphones, an increase on the 20% about three years ago.
Orange invested over EUR100 million in its network this year, 30% more than in 2009.
Its 4G network currently covers 56% of Romania’s population and 85% of the urban population. Video content viewing accounts for 30% of the mobile data traffic in the network, Stefan Slavnicu says.
The company plans to make massive investments in 2015, fueled by the doubling of the data traffic expected, as well as by the continuation of the voice service growth. Investments will be directed to development of fixed fiber optic network, boosting the number of antennas and to network upgrades in cities and counties.
A less visible yet critical part of the Orange’s investments is the development of the fiber optic network, needed to provide up 300 Mbps speeds for mobile Internet services, thus rivaling fixed communications providers. New sites are added to this infrastructure every month, all the 4G antennas are connected to it, Slavnicu said.
The operator will continue to invest in coverage and in signal quality, to enable people to use its services indoors, even in the deepest basements possible, as Slavnicu puts it. Investments will continue in 2G and 3G networks, as well, not just in 4G.
Another investment program is upgrading the countywide networks. Orange has already upgraded ten counties this year, among which Galati, Bihor, Sibiu and Cluj, the Orange official added.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)