Details about the contract (period, value and the number of employees of Romtelecom and Cosmote that could be affected) will be made public “when they are available,” the representatives of the two companies told MEDIAFAX.
Sources on the telecom market said the local divisions of Alcatel Lucent, Huawei and Nokia Siemens Networks also participated in the auction.
End-2009, Romtelecom said it would transfer around 400 employees to Ericsson Romania, starting January 11, 2010, based on a five-year contract targeting the outsourcing of fieldwork operations.
The value of the contract has not been disclosed, but Romtelecom officials told MEDIAFAX it is one of the largest operations of this kind in the Balkans.
Romtelecom is one of the largest telecom operators in Romania. Its shareholding structure includes OTE Group, with a 54.01% stake, and the Ministry for Information Society, with a 44.99% stake. German group Deutsche Telekom owns a 40% stake in OTE Group.
In 2013, Romtelecom registered total revenues of EUR609.5 million, down 1.6% from 2012. Its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) reached EUR147.7 million last year, down 11.1% from 2012.
Cosmote Romania is the third largest telecom operator on the local market, after Orange Romania and Vodafone Romania. Its shareholding structure includes Cosmote Group, part of OTE Group, with a 70% stake and Romtelecom, with a 30% stake.
In 2013, Cosmote Romania’s revenues inched down 0.9%, at EUR458.5 million. Its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) stood at EUR119 million in 2013, down nearly 1% on the year.
Part of Swedish group Ericsson, the Romanian division registered over 1,400 employees and sales of RON543.7 million in 2011, according to the latest available data provided by the Finance Ministry.