Societatea Nationala de Radiocomunicatii (National Radio-communications Company-SNR) was the star of minister Dan Nica's visit to the United States. Along with Gabriel Grecu, company chairman, Nica announced he had got a $100 million loan for SNR to retool its FM radio network and the station in Cheia.
The money comes from Eximbank USA (85%) and Societe Generale (15%). The loan was granted for ten years, with a two-year grace period and about 5.5% in interest (at least that is what Romanian authorities are hoping).
The station in Cheia is one of the components of a data transmission network, which SNR is hoping to help it convince potential investors it is positioned for the future.
What is the company trying to sell us? Fixed phones, high-speed Internet and, why not, high-quality videoconferencing systems in the future. All of them web-based, distributed by a national radio network operating in the 26GHz bandwidth.
The pilot project has already been launched in Bucharest and will be expanded to other cities this fall, quite to RomTelecom's discontent, which said SNR may not use the project for commercial purposes.
However, the project will work and no one can stop a person from using a high-speed radio connection provided by SNR for Voice Over IP fixed telephony, though only between computers, for the moment.
The prices are up to 20% lower than those of the competition, Grecu says, adding that his network has a high speed link with Budapest through Oradea.
Another opportunity is the satellite TV station in Cheia, to be soon made available for private TV networks at a price hopefully lower than the one of the current commercial connections these companies are using.
A small version of RomTelecom? "This is out of the question," says Dan Nica, outlining the difference in size between the two companies (2,000 employees at SNR compared with 40,000 at RomTelecom) as well as the extent of the hardline telephony network, ruled by RomTelecom.
However, SNR's flexible radio solutions could have two competitive advantages: the price and easiness to install.
Anyway, it is obvious that the Government decided to fatten SNR in order to put it out on the market in "H1 next year," according to Dan Nica. The company last year made $25 million in turnover and could make $35 million this year.
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