3Q Maurizio de Dominicis Customer Unit Head, Ericsson North Balkans

What are Ericsson’s strategic directions on the Romanian market over the next two years?

To give a very short answer, mobile broadband is the latest trend and the one that will lead the internet and machine-to-machine. There’s a clear sign that all the operators will go this way, and the investments are in this area. This is where the market is going in Romania today. We don’t have a specific direction, only one at regional level, for this. This is in line with our strategy and we are preparing to serve our customers, also in this country.

What is the weight of Romania in the cluster of countries you lead?

It is extremely important because it is the biggest country in the Balkans, with a population of over 22-23 million inhabitants. Our investments are significant. In the Balkans we have slightly over 1,600 employees, of whom more than 1,200-1,300 are based in Romania. The North Balkans represent a roughly EUR 200 million business for Ericsson, and I have to say that more than 50 percent is coming from Romania. It is the biggest part of our turnover, in terms of people and money.

What activities do you run from the global services center in Romania?

We deliver managed services and we manage networks from our global service center in the Militari district, where we have 800 people working. It is one of the two we have in the world, the other one is in India. It is one of the most advanced of its kind, and revolutionary in terms of the technology we use. We manage more than 35 million subscribers from this center. We do managed services for operators in the UK and Italy, and we manage networks in Spain. Customers are from all over the world.

We started investing in this center in 2006-2007. The investment went into technology such as computers, infrastructure, connections, and then people, which is the biggest investment we have made. The average age of the people working in this center is 27 years old. We have a plan to grow our team in this country, but we cannot disclose it.

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