Vodafone, Romania’s second largest mobile telephony operator and one of the country’s largest companies, has not made a decision, yet, about the way it will tap the segment of TV services, but it is clear the approach will not be one of making the same moves as its rivals.
Vodafone–which, with 8 million clients and revenue of EUR750 million per annum, is the second largest mobile telephony operator in Romania–is not present on the TV services market and provides fixed services only to large corporate clients, but it mulls expanding in this territory, Vittorio Colao, the British group’s CEO, told ZF in October.
Takkar’s message may signal Vodafone will not launch a satellite TV platform, as Orange, the leader of the local mobile telephony market, did. What’s next, then? Vodafone Romania’s CEO does not clear things up, but says the operator could make a surprising move.
The local TV services market is dominated by RCS&RDS company.
At the moment he came at the helm of Vodafone Romania, Ravinder Takkar said his priorities were mobile data, corporate clients and M-Pesa, a mobile money transfer and payment service. Asked about the progress Vodafone has made in meeting the three key objectives, Takkar said he was satisfied with the results.
“In the short period I’ve spent here, I can say I am satisfied with the achievements of our technical team. We will have some interesting information about the network that we will speak about next year,” said Takkar.
On the other hand, Takkar decided to give more leeway to people in the territory for them to be able to react more rapidly to market changes.
As regards the business segment, Takkar believes the operator has some “phenomenal” growth opportunities.
In 2015, the company will also focus on expanding the distribution area of M-Pesa service, to the end of turning it into a mass product, states Takkar.
Hence, what will be the company’s priorities in 2015? There are no major strategy changes, mobile data, business clients and mobile payments are still our main targets, concludes Takkar.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)