Romanian mobile telephony operator MobilRom-Dialog will change its name to Orange Romania on February 1, 2002 at the latest, thus becoming part of New Orange, the mobile telephony division of France Telecom.
MobilRom, in which France Telecom holds 68% of shares, was incorporated into New Orange in the second half of last year, holding a 2% weight of its total.
"Right after the initial public offering for Orange is finalised and after this company is listed on the Stock Exchange, we shall proceed to change the name of MobilRom to Orange Romania," Bernard Moscheni, MobilRom general manager, told Ziarul Financiar. He says he does not know whether the Dialog brand will receive a different name, once the MobilRom name is changed.
Beside MobilRom, France Telecom also owns stakes in mobile telephony operators Itineris in France, Mobistar in Belgium, Dutchtone in Holland, Mobilix in Denmark, Globtel in Slovakia, Cellis in Lebanon, etc.
"Itineris is the first company that has already changed its name into Orange," Moscheni says.
He claims that the change from MobilRom into Orange Romania means that services offered by companies integrated within Orange will be the same in Romania, France or Great Britain.
"Our customers must understand that behind Orange there is an international telecommunications organisation, which ranks second worldwide, after Vodafone," Moscheni says.
Orange market value currently amounts to 55-56 billion euros, while MobilRom market value stands at 1.2-1.5 billion euros. In 2000, turnover posted by the mobile telephony operator stood at 274 million dollars, while total investments made so far top the 525 million-dollar level.
For 2001, Moscheni estimates turnover exceeding 370 million dollars. At the same time, company investments for this year amount to over 100 million dollars.
"Investments will be mainly aimed at service improvement and network development. Our main target is to retain our leading position on the Romanian mobile telephony market," Moscheni maintains.
MobilRom currently has more than 1,250,000 customers. "We believe that by the end of the year we will be rapidly approaching the two million clients level," Moscheni states.
The new shareholding structure at MobilRom is Orange S.A. with 67,81%, Norigton Enterprises (which holds 7.48% in stock), Tomen Corporation with 5.41% of shares and Finas Advertising Limited with 4.05%.
Among other shareholders, there are Alcatel N.V., MBL Computers, Radcom, Polish Enterprises Fund, Verbena Servicos e Investimentos, Innova/98 L.P., Societe Generale Romania Fund Limited and Traquesin-Prestaco de Servicios de Consulatoria Economica SA.
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