Achilleas Kanaris, Vodafone Romania: We want to increase Romania's potential, next year we will invest in Real 5G infrastructure

Despite the difficult economic conditions, Vodafone wants to increase Romania’s potential by continuing to invest heavily, growing the telecoms market and focusing on developing Real 5G infrastructure, says Achilleas Kanaris, CEO of Vodafone Romania.

“Next year we will focus our infrastructure investments on the mobile area – we want to kick-start the Real 5G network rollout. In the fixed infrastructure area, we will continue to improve the network we have and add more fibre. We will focus on tactical growth,” says Vodafone Romania’s CEO.

He adds that he sees solid growth in the B2B segment, but also that the smart IoT ecosystem of connected devices will generate many opportunities in the years to come.

“One of the good things about operating in a market like Romania, where ARPU [average revenue per user] is so low, is that the situation challenges you to think outside the box and find opportunities outside the usual area. We are investing significantly in the Enterprise area and we are seeing healthy, double-digit growth, but also a positive development in the consumer segment,” adds Kanaris.

According to the Vodafone representative, if the average household allocates an average budget of €25 per month for connectivity needs, when it comes to the budget allocated to technology in general, the amount increases to €95 per month, per household. “We want to address exactly this need and we want to penetrate even further into the technology area.”

“Despite the weak market situation, from an economic point of view, we are convinced that the telecoms segment will be on a positive trajectory. We want to continue to invest, grow the market and increase Romania’s potential,” says Achilleas Kanaris. The official also mentioned that the fixed services market needs regulation, more competition and equal access to infrastructure, both for the benefit of the population, who could benefit from more varied services, and for operators, who would also benefit from direct sales, but also from the wholesale component of infrastructure.

Earlier, the CEO of Vodafone Romania announced that the business was back on growth, both in terms of total revenues and service revenues, in a declining market. The company invests more than €200 million every year in network infrastructure and technological innovation.

Vodafone Romania recorded service revenues of €189 million in the period April – June 2023, up 2%. At the end of June, the company had 8.6 million mobile customers.