New Vodafone Romania CEO: We are investing 500m euros in the next five years

Britain's Vodafone group, the world's biggest mobile telephony operator, is going to invest half a billion euros in Romania over the next five years, with part of the sum to be directed toward the construction of a 4G network, which could lead to an over fourfold increase in the speed of mobile Internet services, the segment that will witness the tightest competition on the market in the coming years.

"Vodafone's plan is to invest over half a billion euros in Romania over the next five years," stated Inaki Berroeta, 43, the Spanish who on December 1 took over the position of CEO at Vodafone Romania, which ranks second on the Romanian telecom market, and is one of the biggest domestic companies, with 1bn-euro annual revenues and almost 10 million clients.
The domestic telecom market, whose value dropped in 2009 from 4bn euros to a 4.5bn-euro peak in 2008, is still boasting significant growth potential, even though this year may bring renewed decline and competition with international rivals Orange and OTE/Deutsche Telekom is extremely fierce.
"We've budgeted this important sum for investments because Romania's communication market has a significant potential. Nobody is investing if there are no opportunities," Berroeta says.
Vodafone has invested 2bn euros since 1997.
"The sum shows the level of Vodafone's commitment for the Romanian market".