The people in Oradea could be the first Romanians to make low-tariff local, inter-county or international calls through the new DECT telephony network dedicated by Atlas Telecom yesterday. Atlas Telecom's CEO and chairman for Central and Eastern Europe, Pompiliu S. Tripa, says this is also the first DECT metropolitan network in the world. Although this is just a pilot project, the Atlas Telecom representatives promise to launch the commercial version of the service in 30 days.
The DECT (digital enhanced cordless telecommunication) network installed in Oradea is practically an expansion of the catchment area of the cordless phones to the entire city. Atlas Telecom representatives pointed out this was neither about mobile nor fixed telephony, preferring to define DECT as "limited mobility telephony." In other words, the users can use their cordless phones at home, in the street or in their offices, provided that they should remain within Oradea City. One of the DECT terminals perfectly resembles a mobile phone. The DECT phones were launched some 20 years ago, but they operate on small areas, within a home and within a 300 metre radius.
"I think we'll have lower tariffs than any other operator and come to total some 30,000 subscribers by mid next year," Pompiliu S. Tripa said. The company will offer four types of subscriptions, one of which will come with limitless call minutes for calls placed within the network. A DECT phone will cost some 50 euros.
The telecom operator has invested some $8 million in the new network and is planning to expand the project to another 19 major cities in the country. Top of the list are Bucharest, Constanta, Timisoara, Cluj-Napoca and Brasov. The DECT service provided by Atlas Telecom will be available in these cities as of early next year. The expansion of the network will entail a 100 million euro investment, according to Pompiliu S. Tripa.
The amount will be 40% covered by the company's resources and the rest will be raised from banking loans and investment funds. Atlas Telecom management's goal is to attract one million clients over the next three years. The network dedicated by Atlas Telecom in Oradea yesterday was built with Alcatel Romania's help and includes six fibre optics rings covering the city, as well as 1,400 cells mounted on RENEL's pillars 200-300 metres apart.
The system developed by Atlas Telecom solves the local loop (i.e. the connection between the central telecom infrastructure and the end user) issue. "Romania has 12-lane highways (the backbone i.e.), but no local loop, namely no access roads leading to these highways," Varujan Pambuccian, chairman of the IT&C Committee within the Chamber of Deputies metaphorically explained. The connection between the terminal and the backbone is done via radio waves.
At present the service works only one-way, i.e. from Oradea to other destinations (long-distance and international included), but not from other destinations to Oradea, due to the lack of interconnection with other networks. Atlas Telecom representatives specified interconnection contracts will be signed with the main Romanian operators (RomTelecom, Connex and Orange) in 30 days. |
