Liliana Solomon, chief executive, Vodafone Romania

A former chief financial officer at both Cable & Wireless and T-Mobile in the UK, Solomon began her career in the telecoms industry in 1995 at a German start-up. “I was attracted by this sector due to the fact that the entire telecom market was about to get liberalised in Europe. It was clear to me that the industry would change dramatically in the years to come and open up a whole new range of challenges and opportunities,” she says.

Solomon takes the position that the right person for a job should be appointed irrespective of gender, saying that gender has never been an issue in her ascension through the ranks.

“I strongly believe that, if one has the knowledge, the skills, the passion and the desire to work in order to be successful, then these represent the right ingredients for a successful career. There are many examples of women in leadership positions, at Vodafone and in other companies around the world,” she says.

Solomon has a PhD in physics and an MBA from INSEAD, Fontainebleau, and argues that engineering qualifications are not essential to enable progress to the top within the telecoms space. The industry is more of a mindset, she suggests: “It is much more important to have an open mind and to be willing to constantly learn and embrace new technologies,” she says.

GTS extends Eastern European network footprint

Central and Eastern European carrier GTS Central Europe said Wednesday it has completed the acquisition of Romanian network operator Datek, boosting its footprint in the corporate network services market in the country and the region.

In addition to providing standard telecoms services, Datek offers data transfer, infrastructure development, systems integration and serves as the main regional partner for numerous global carriers and financial institutions. GTS said it will roll Datek into its existing Romanian operations, creating a combined business with total annual revenues exceeding €25m, allowing it to emphasize the sale of data and managed services to corporate and carrier customers.

Owned by a consortium of private equity investors, GTS has an extensive regional fibre optic network throughout the CEE region with network extensions to neighbouring countries such as Austria, the Balkans, the Baltic States, Russia, Turkey and the Ukraine. Datek brings 400 route kilometres of fibre to the table.

Romania has been hit hard by the economic crisis, but analyst forecasts suggest the market is slowly moving back on track with the fastest-growing segments expected to be VoIP, mobile data and fixed broadband.

Analyst house Pyramid research notes that the Romanian fixed broadband market has gotten a boost by growth in DSL and FTTB in particular, with the fixed telecom market accounting for 37 per cent of total telecom service revenue in 2009 and set to grow at a local currency CAGR of 3.6 per cent between 2009 and 2014.

The MiFi mobile broadband hotspot

Vodafone has confirmed plans to deploy the MiFi mobile broadband hotspot in three markets but may face a challenge in marketing the device to end users.

The concept of a mobile broadband hotspot is gaining traction in the tech world, but may be a difficult one to pitch to consumers. The MiFi, manufactured by Novatel, is a pocket sized box powered by batteries or a mains supply and can connect up to five wifi-enabled devices with a cellular backhaul connection – a sort of 3G dongle on steroids.

Telecoms.com has been playing with one of the Novatel devices for a couple of weeks and is impressed by the concept. It’s more user friendly than a dongle because, with  no software to install, everything is accessed via a web interface. But the main benefit is that you can move the unit to an optimum coverage position — by the window, say — and leave your laptop or other wifi-capable devices on the desk or a more comfortable location. With a couple of hours battery life, it’s also got potential as an emergency hotspot, when you need to get a handful of users online.

Small businesses may understand the advantages of being able to set up a micro network on the fly, but explaining the concept to consumers is a different story altogether. Even Vodafone doesn’t seem to have a coherent pitch, with a spokesman saying that it is being marketed as a way to bring wireless connectivity to devices that might not otherwise have it, such as cameras, media players and gaming consoles. But as one analyst noted, the question here is why you would want to bring mobility to such devices? Gaming consoles would likely be better of connecting to the internet via a fixed line, where bandwidth and latency are not so much of an issue, while cameras and media players would need an interface to be able to use the connectivity and would likely struggle to stream any sort of media reliably.

Vodafone will initially make the MiFi 2352 device available in Germany, Romania and Spain, with no details on pricing or other markets available as yet.

Commenting on the announcement by Vodafone, Michael Kovacocy, European telecoms analyst and sector strategist at Daiwa Securities, said that the device represented a serious part of the convergence puzzle but the operator would likely be faced with difficulties in the economics of distribution as well as the marketing of the device. However, Kovacocy suggested that as a technological development, the mobile broadband hotspot could pave the way for the appearance of an ‘intelligent router’ in the home, perhaps combining it with a femtocell. Such a device could have both fixed line and mobile broadband connectivity, sending heavy duty apps over the fixed broadband connection and lighter touch apps over the mobile network, for example.

Earlier this month, 3 UK, announced its own plans to bring a similar mobile hotspot device to the country later this month. 3’s Mobile wifi device, also known as ‘MiFi’, is not the same MiFi unit that is manufactured by Novatel Wireless, but is instead a branded Huawei E5830 wireless modem that does a very similar job.

From September 18, 3 Mobile Wifi will be available from 3 on two plans: Broadband 5GB  is a one month rolling contract which includes 5GB of data for £15 a month, with an outlay of £69.99 for the device; and a Ready to Go option which prices the device at £99.99 and includes 3GB worth of data which can be used over a three month period, afterwards topped up on a prepay basis.

Cosmote swoops on Zapp in Romania

Greek carrier Cosmote has signed an agreement to acquire Romanian mobile operator Telemobil, which operates under the Zapp brand.

Cosmote is buying the operator under a share purchase agreement worth €61m, with the Greek firm also assuming Zapp’s debt and other liabilities worth in the region on €146m.

Zapp holds a CDMA license in the 450MHz band and a 3G WCDMA license in the 2100MHz band. Its 3G network currently covers 23 Romanian cities and its total customer base exceeds 374,000 post paid customers, the company said.

Cosmote already operates Romania’s third largest cellco, with 6.6 million GSM customers at the end of March 2009, with the company apparently looking to merge operations with its new acquisition.

The Romanian market is dominated by Orange Romania, with 10.1 million subscribers, followed by Vodafone with 9.7 million, and RCS&RDS with two million users bringing up the rear.

Romania lowers auction price

Romania’s regulator, the National Authority for Communications (ANC), is to re-open the auction of two 3.6GHz WiMAX licences. Only this time, instead of asking for a reserve bid price of Eur7.5m, it will be lowered to Eur1m.

The previous higher tender failed to attract any bids from the six parties that had expressed an initial interest in the WiMAX licences.

ANC president Liviu Nistoran says the auction will be open with minimal conditions attached to the licences, which will also allow for both urban and rural WiMAX coverage.

The six companies that bought Terms of Reference for the initial tender were: Asesoft International, Comcore Management, Cosmote Romanian Mobile Telecommunications, Media Sat, RCS&RDS and Vodafone Romania.

It is expected that more companies will become involved in Romania’s 3.6GHz licence auctions now that the reserve prices have been lowered.

The Romanian government this week dissolved communications regulator the National Regulatory Authority for Communications and Information Technology (ANRCTI), setting up the National Authority for Communciations (ANC) in its place.

The new institution is to take over the budget and personnel of the ANRCTI and will operate under the coordination of the prime minister.

Liviu Nistoran has been appointed president of the ANC, replacing Dan Georgescu who was sacked from his post in August. Georgescu had won a suspension order on his firing at the Bucharest Court of Appeal, as well as an order barring the appointment of Nistoran. But the reshuffling of the regulatory authority neatly sidesteps these court orders.