Romtelecom, one of the biggest telecom operators domestically,has launched, in Bucharest, Cluj, Iasi and another 7 big cities, TVservices through the same lines it provides fixed telephony andInternet services through, thus opening a new front in its battlewith RCS&RDS and UPC, leaders of the Romanian TV servicesmarket. Romtelecom lines reach over 4 million houses andcompanies.
Romtelecom's Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service costs15 RON per month, but is available only for those customers whoalso bought from the company fixed telephony and Internet at aspeed of at least 8 Mbps. Clients subscribing now will not pay forthe IPTV subscription until March 2010. With a little more than800,000 customers on the segment of satellite television,Romtelecom ranks third on the Romanian TV services market, afterRCS, with 2.5 million clients and UPC with 1.2 million.
"The company's current strategy is to gradually become no. 1 inthe entertainment area and for this we must be able to provide TVservices, games," says Yorgos Ioannidis, CEO of Romtelecom.
By entering the IPTV segment, Romtelecom will be able to competewith its rivals on the segment of premium services as well, such asHD television, DVR or video content on demand. UPC is at the momentthe only operator providing HD TV and DVR, thus profiting from thecurrent demand from the almost 700,000 Romanians holding a HD TVset.
What is Romtelecom's stake in making this move? One of the mostobvious explanations is the retention of clients of fixedtelephony, a service provided for free by RCS&RDS, but alsoencouraging current clients to shift to Internet at higher speedsand therefore higher tariffs.
But the IPTV also helps Romtelecom make for the historicalmistake of having sold, in 2005, the first cable TV operator ofBucharest that had set up an optical fibre infrastructure to thecurrent UPC.
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