The energy market is not ‘competitive’; in this respect it is in a state closer to what the telecom industry was 15 years ago when Romtelecom (the current Telekom) was the landline telephony monopoly, says Valentin Popoviciu, RCS&RDS business development director.
“Energy is not a competitive market, it’s like the telecom market 15 years ago. More can be done and the environment must be changed,” he said, adding entering the energy business is natural step for the cable TV company.
“Energy and telecom have things in common. The electricity service business is deregulated and consumers can choose. We are and want to be an alternative.”
The household segment of the energy market currently stands at EUR1.5 billion a year; the monthly electricity bill is almost equal to the cable TV and Internet bill.
The cable TV company, which has only launched its Digi Energy service for corporate customers so far, has big plans to supply power to all types of customers. To be able to do so, it will build its own distribution network to consumers’ homes from scratch. It will basically do what it started doing with cable TV in the nineties, which now reaches more than two million households.
RCS&RDS signed a deal with the Oradea City Hall to build an electricity distribution network in the city.
“We will create an independent network that runs in a parallel to the traditional operator’s. This means creating a real choice, an action that creates competition, makes the market more dynamic. We believe things can be done better on this market.”
Popoviciu did not provide any details about the investments RCS&RDS earmarked for the electricity business or the cities targeted. Oradea is the home of the founder and majority shareholder, Zoltan Teszari.
Popoviciu’s statements show RCS&RDS plans to take on the energy market as it did with the telecom market: build its own network and go after the rivals’ customer base, trying to lure it with lower, aggressive prices.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)