Orion Telekom DOO, Serbia’s second- biggest internet provider that began fixed-line service, will almost double investments next year to challenge Telekom Srbija AD’s land-line dominance.
Orion will invest at least 10 million euros ($15.7 million) next year to expand its fiber-optic network to about 70 percent of Serbia’s 7.12 million people, said Director Slobodan Djinovic in Belgrade today.
The Serbian unit of Netherlands-based Greenhouse Telecommunications Holdings BV is aiming to expand in the 43.6 billion-dinar ($552 million) market. It obtained a national fixed-phone license in 2010, ending a decades-long monopoly by state-owned Telekom Srbija.
“Deregulation has taken place, but the actual end of a monopoly can carry on for years,” Djinovic said. “In terms of market share, a substantial change to the historic dominance” of Telekom “may be seen only in 2013, 2014.”
The third participant in the market is Telenor ASA (TEL)’s local unit, the second-biggest provider of mobile services in Serbia, which paid 1.05 million euros in 2010 for a fixed-line license.
Orion sales may rise more than 50 percent this year to 20.5 million euros, largely from its core activity, while revenue may reach 25 million euros in 2012 on expanding its triple-play cable offer that comprises internet, TV and telephone, he said.
Source bloomberg.com
