Telemobil, the operator of the Zapp mobile communications network, has begun the fourth phase of its network expansion and upgrading programme with the investment of 60 million dollars (50.4 million euros), company officials say.
"We are moving ahead with the investment in expanding and upgrading our network. We allocated more than 50 million dollars (42 million euros) to the third phase of national infrastructure development in 2004," said Telemobil''s president, Cuneyt Turktan.
Zapp will continue to invest this year in order to achieve 78% coverage of the country and 90% coverage of the population. This means Zapp''s network will be available in 240 cities and 1,500 communes, while it will cover 6,300 kilometres of national roads, added Turktan. Zapp''s coverage currently reaches 70% of the country in terms of territory and 80% of the population.
The planned infrastructure investments will be financed in part from the 94 million dollars (76 million euros) in funding secured by Telemobil this January.
This funding includes 40 million dollars that were arranged by Bank Austria Creditanstalt-HVB Romania and Raiffeisen Bank Romania, as coordinator banks, with the remaining amount coming from subordinated loans from Ex-IM Bank (US), Citibank Romania and the Black Sea Trade & Development Bank. The loan agreement was negotiated for a seven-year period.
Besides network expansion and improvements to service quality, the loan will also be used to pay off credits Telemobil took out to buy equipment.
Launched by Telemobil in December 2001, Zapp mobile service uses CDMA 450 as its underlying technology. The planned investment to launch and sustain further development of Telemobil comes to 350-360 million dollars.
Telemobil concluded 2004 with 93 million dollars (76 million euros) in turnover and reported its first operating income since Zapp was launched. The number of subscribers exceeded 300,000 at the end of last year.
Telemobil expects its revenues to reach 130-135 million dollars this year, with the number of subscribers expected to reach 400,000.
Telemobil is 99% owned by the British company, Inquam Limited, in which the main shareholders are Qualcomm and Omnia Holdings Ltd, a Middle Eastern investment fund.
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