“The number of smartphones will reach 8 million by yearend, three times as many as two years ago, but the penetration rate will still be lower than 50%. We might reach this rate next year,” said Dan Virtopeanu, managing director of Breeze Mobile at the ZF Digital ‘14 conference.
“What we are seeing today, as growth drivers, with a rising appetite, are data, network quality and device quality,” said Julien Ducarroz, chief commercial officer of Orange Romania, the largest mobile phone operator in the country.
Services are another important thing. Digital adds complexity for the customer. People used to ask how many call minutes one had in the past. Now there is a greater need for services and customer care to explain customers how to use the new technology, he added.
Data services are the growth driver, Ovidiu Ghiman, chief commercial officer, Business Segment Telekom Romania, in turn said, adding that a trend on the market was to migrate towards convergent fixed-mobile service packages on both consumer and business segment.
“Customers want a simpler life. Fixed-mobile convergence is what they demand. We won’t see a scenario wherein all decision-makers in businesses choose a single provider any time soon but it is a trend we are witnessing and we are betting on.”
Customers are looking for full-package solutions to include both mobile and fixed telephony services, said Markus Lause, director enterprise business unit within Vodafone Romania, the second leading mobile phone operator in the country.
Cable companies, too, are focusing on development of Internet services, which are becoming more and more relevant for viewing video content that once used to be available only via TV services.
“Internet is the main growth area for us. The second comes from the digital area,” said Robert Redeleanu, marketing manager with UPC Romania.
“There’s a very important area, which we first tapped into this year and that is personalization. Customers need personalized services, they need to get their value for money.”
Personalization of services and customer loyalty will be where the battle on the telecommunications market will be fought in Romania over the coming years, as price will cease to be the most important criterion when choosing a provider over another, the representatives of the largest communications companies in Romania said at ZF Digital ‘14.
“An important factor to ensure customer loyalty is the service portfolio one provides. (…) Two factors will ensure it in the future: addressing the technical issues the customer is having, regardless of their nature and the personalization of services. Customers are screaming for personalization, they need to understand what we are offering them meets the needs of their families,” Robert Redeleanu said.
If providers are able to develop the entire ‘ecosystem’ in a way that adds value to the customers’ lives, they will become loyal, he added.
“As much as we would like to not talk about price, price will remain an important factor on this market. I don’t know whether prices will go up or down. As customers buy more complex services, they will be willing to pay for them. We will still see operators offering very low prices, though.”
Personalization of services is what will distinguish telecom service providers, the other actors of this industry say.
“I think there’s a total freedom on the market right now. There are various customer segments. A personalized offer is very important,” says Telekom’s Ovidiu Ghiman.
The market has kept on pounding customers with offers whose sole benefit is the lowest price, while Telekom has tried to come up with offers that give customers the greatest value for money, he added.
“We are innovative, it’s one of our strategic goals. It’s not enough to just come up with services on the market,” Ghiman said.
Under the circumstances, the companies on the cable and fixed Internet services market consider mobility an important thing, which enables customers to access video content and Internet from somewhere else other than their homes.
“The flagship product of Liberty Global (UPC owner i.e.) is Horizon, which brings together traditional TV and Internet. We are now working on a Horizon solution tailored to the Central and Eastern Europe,” said Severina Pascu, chief executive officer of UPC Romania and Hungary.
The company has no plans to introduce Horizon in Romania soon, but will offer it at some point. It will first stream TV content online and then the company will build upon that and put TV content on any device, she added.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)