The closest such model is Magyar Telecom, which has been supplying electricity and gas to customers since 2010 besides providing the traditional telecommunications services.
This is not the first step RCS&RDS, indirectly controlled by businessman Zoltan Teszari, has taken in the energy business. The company branched out into solar power generation in 2012, following the acquisition of companies developing such projects.
Market sources say RCS&RDS even looked at the assets put up for sale by Italy’s Enel, which announced this summer it planned to exit Romania and sell its power distribution and supply operations. Enel distributes and supplies power to Banat, Dobrogea and Muntenia Sud (Muntenia South, the area that includes Bucharest).
RCS&RDS officials did not comment on the information.
A telecom branching out into the utility supply business is not that unusual, as Hungary’s Magyar Telekom has already taken the step. In 2010, it announced it would supply electricity and natural gas to its customers in four big cities in Hungary.
At the time it said it did not plan to cause significant changes on the energy market, it merely wanted to a full service portfolio and intended to sell the power and gas at a discount depending on the plans its post-paid customers had.
Magyar Telekom only introduced the power supply services (sale), while the maintenance of the power distribution system stayed with the holder of the distribution license.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)