Vodafone Romania: a digital champion with strong Romanian roots

With annual investments of over EUR 200 million towards enhancing local infrastructure and fostering digital innovation, Vodafone Romania’s focus is on achieving sustainable and robust long-term growth for the company, but also for the communities in which it operates. Achilleas Kanaris, the CEO of Vodafone Romania, explains how the company intends to bring further added value to the state, citizens, SMEs, and society.

By Anda Sebesi

What were the biggest challenges Vodafone Romania faced in 2023?

In many ways, 2023 was a gamechanger for Vodafone Romania. It was a year of acceleration on our transformation journey as we transitioned from a mainstream telecommunications leader to a TechCo challenger. 2023 was the year in which we confirmed that Vodafone was a digital champion with strong Romanian roots. Our focus is on achieving sustainable and robust long-term growth—both for the company and for the communities in which we operate—and to offer services and bring added value to public and private entities, including the state, citizens, SMEs and society.

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We focus on technology and digital solutions that extend beyond core connectivity. A notable challenge however lies in digital education, particularly the lack of awareness among SMEs in Romania regarding the potential that technology holds to enhance their business environment, making them more efficient and competitive. As a technology company, a crucial resource for us on the Romanian market is the pool of IT professionals—but here there is another challenge, namely brain drain. We actively engage in the recruitment of experienced engineers while also investing in the development of emerging talent. Last but not least, the ongoing challenge of the 5G rollout continues to shape our day-to-day operations.

What were the most important projects the company carried out in 2023?

Vodafone invests over 200 million EUR yearly in enhancing local infrastructure and fostering digital innovation. We are a technology company, so we have a lot of innovation up our sleeve, with initiatives such as CITI Cluster, a catalyst designed to enhance the competitiveness of the eco-innovative sector in Romania, facilitating collaboration among likeminded stakeholders to undertake projects in research, development, innovation, and technological transfer.

The Vodafone Innovation Hub within the Polytechnic University is also one of the projects I take great pride in because it aligns with our goal of investing in up-and-coming talent and backing the future generation of professionals. The hub is basically an incubator focused on research, development, and innovation in the areas such as 5G/6G, IoT/IoE, AI, MPN, Open RAN, Edge Computing, and robotics. Our strategy involves investments to solidify and expand our footprint on the local market. The best example in this regard is the EasyTech concept, a platform we have poured our energy into in 2023, which represents a new approach to retail, offering easy access to technology.

What’s the current state of the telecom industry and what changes should we expect to see in the coming years?

We are on the verge of real 5G rollout, which will have a transformative impact not only on the local economy but at a global scale. It will lead to the development of new industries, new jobs, and the improvement of people’s quality of life. 5G is estimated to create 13.2 trillion dollars in global economic value by 2035, generating over 22 million jobs in the 5G global value chain alone. That’s equivalent to the GDP of China. For Romania alone, the 5G rollout is projected to yield substantial economic benefits, estimated at EUR 4.7 billion, and to generate over 252,000 new jobs.

How important are ESG and sustainability criteria for Vodafone and the industry in general?

In Romania we share an anniversary with the Vodafone Foundation. In the 25 years in which we’ve worked together, we have gathered more than 1,200 projects that touched 4.5 million lives in Romania. The projects have mainly been focused on digital education, health or inclusion, as our aim is to build a sustainable digital society that is inclusive for all, where technology and connectivity are enhancing the future and improving people’s lives. To provide one example, in the past year we have invested heavily in bringing ICUs online and giving newborns an extra chance of survival. We also have our Tech for Good umbrella that covers the projects we are undertaking in partnership with the Salvamont association, allowing their teams to reduce their search times with the use of drones.