Romtelecom offers free cable TV to new clients, to clients that already have a television or internet subscription with Romtelecom, that they are renewing, and to clients who already have a fixed telephony subscription that they are renewing by choosing one of two subscriptions that cost EUR10.54 and EUR12.7 per month respectively.
Clients that have a fixed telephony subscription with Romtelecom can also install the cable TV service at a cost of 12 lei (VAT included) per month -50% cheaper than the cheapest cable TV subscription offers from rivals UPC and RCS&RDS.
The offer for new clients is the following: for RON56 per month (VAT included) they get fiber optic internet at speeds of up to 100 MBps, 67-channel cable TV, fixed telephony with no included minutes, but with an included fixed phone and a wireless router.
The aggressiveness of Romtelecom’s campaign can only compare to similar past action from rival RCS&RDS, which at one point moved its own infrastructure into rival UPC’s territory – and offered UPC subscribers free-of-charge services until the expiry of their contracts with UPC.
Romtelecom’s campaign in fact also has other things in common with that of RCS&RDS, apart from the major price cuts: the start was discreet and communication was done directly with the client base.
The operator started the campaign around two months ago, but used only its direct sales force, classified ads and billboards placed in key locations for Romtelecom. Since its launch, no information about the “free cable” campaign has been published on the company’s website or in the operator’s press releases.
Contacted by ZF, Romtelecom officials did not answer questions about this campaign by deadline.
According to data collected by ZF, the campaign targets several other towns, apart from Bucharest.
Worthy of mention is that Romtelecom’s campaign is not done chaotically, but only in certain areas of those towns, where the company has already developed its own infrastructure.
According to information obtained by ZF from the company’s call center operators, the city where the extension of the cable infrastructure will most likely occur will be Bucharest – the largest market for TV services in Romania.
Why has Romtelecom launched such a campaign for cable TV rather than another technology? The answer seems to be linked both with the cost of providing the services and with Romanian clients’ habits. In Romanian households there are often two, three or even four TVs and analog cable is the only cheap way to receive TV programs through all TV sets. If one uses satellite TV services, for instance, in order to be able to watch TV programs on two or three TV sets, one needs two or three different receivers, each costing several tens of euros.
Call center operators in fact insist on this. “You can connect all TVs around the house,” they explain in a discussion with a prospective client.
Why is Romtelecom, a company with tradition on fixed telephony, attacking the TV segment aggressively? Stephanos Theocharopoulos, CEO of Cosmote and Romtelecom, gave the answer a month ago, at the ZF Digital ’12 event. He said being active on the TV market was a must given Romanians’ TV consumption habits (pay TV has a 96% penetration rate).
(English version by Daniela Stoican)