BUCHAREST, Romania-In the early 1990s in Romania, paging terminals came to be well-known. Since then, the market has gone through a period of quick penetration, followed by market uncertainty and consolidation.
In the beginning, the paging market was represented by a few small operators and by seven large operators: Radiotel, National Mobile Communications (CNM), Rokura, Bell Pagette, Elicom, Alfa-Bit and Matech. Now, after almost 10 years in operation, the paging market in Romania has just three players: CNM, Romtel International and Bell Pagette Romania.
At the start of 1997, paying customers totaled almost 110,000. But after the launch of GSM cellular service by MobiFon and Mobil Rom later that year, the number of users dropped by almost half. In the two years since then, CNM has launched an ambitious campaign for calling party pays (CPP) service, but this hasn’t been enough to boost the overall market. Current customers in Romania-including paying and CPP subscribers-number about 170,000.
Though paging operators are satisfied with what they have, the short-term market outlook for paging is bleak. Just as in most telecom markets worldwide, two-way paging is a likely solution for Romania, but it remains uncertain whether operators will be ready to invest in a new network.
CNM
CNM is a joint venture between U.S.-based Metromedia International Telecommunications Inc. and Romania’s National Society of Radiocommunications.
The company’s transmission is completed through simultaneous radio links between the Bucharest dispatch center and paging transmitters using a 400 MHz network in the city and a 20 GHz network for areas outside Bucharest. CNM covers 16 cities, and following a recent promotional campaign for its CPP “ECO” service, the company claims it has nearly 100,000 customers.
The campaign, in conjunction with Coca-Cola Romania, drew new subscribers, however retaining the customers and increasing airtime have been difficult given the high prices of the calls. The monthly fee is between US$4 and US$12 based on service type.
Romtel
Romtel International, a joint venture between Romanian companies Radiotel, Elicom and Rokura, provides coverage in 100 Romanian cities and has an undisclosed number of subscribers.
Currently, Romtel uses wireline facilities from operator Romtelecom to transmit paging messages. The company charges a monthly fee of between US$2 and US$8, and offers local, regional and national paging; daily news and entertainment updates; Web paging, an e-mail service that allows subscribers to receive e-mail on their pagers; and a CPP service called Acces.
Bell Pagette
Bell Pagette Romania’s ownership has changed hands several times in the six years it has been in operation. The company originally was founded in 1994 by a Yugoslavian company, but was later bought by the Norwegian operator Telenor. The current owner is the Romanian group of companies called Logic Telecom.
Its number of customers are undisclosed.
