Orange Romania to acquire 54% stake in Telekom Romania Communications

Orange Romania has signed a deal to acquire a 54% stake in Romanian telecommunications company Telekom Romania Communications (TKR) for €268 million from Greek technology company OTE.

The remaining 46% stake in the fixed telecom operator is owned by the Romanian government.

Orange Romania is a subsidiary of French telecommunications giant Orange.

According to Orange, the acquisition will help in considerably speeding up its strategy to become the most preferred choice of Romanian customers for convergent services.

The deal values 100% of Telekom Romania Communications at €497 million.

Considered as the second-largest player in fixed telecoms in the Romanian market, Telekom Romania Communications reported revenues of €622 million in 2019.

The fixed telecom operator offers fixed voice, broadband, and also pay-tv services to nearly five million customers. Its nearly 90,000 km fibre network, on the other hand, is said to connect almost three million households.

As of 30 June 2020, Telekom Romania Communications through a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) has been offering convergent services to nearly 881,000 fixed-mobile convergent subscribers. Once the transaction is completed, these customers will move to Orange Romania’s network.

Orange Romania to acquire 54% stake in Telekom Romania Communications from OTE. Photo courtesy of Nicolas Gouhier/Orange

Liudmila Climoc – CEO of Orange Romania said: “This is a significant milestone for the Romanian telecom market that will enhance its attractiveness both in terms of converged telecoms services and high quality infrastructure, while increasing competition.

“It will provide the opportunity to scale up innovative convergent services, bringing broader benefits and wider choices to the customers and also to the country’s digital economy sustainable development.

“Orange Romania’s and Telekom Romania Communications’ network complementarity will allow us to bring together not only customers and teams, but also the best of expertise in terms of quality of service and future-proof mobile and fixed networks infrastructure.”

With revenues of €1.1 billion in 2019, Orange Romania is claimed by its parent firm as the top mobile operator in Romania.

Post-acquisition, Orange Romania when combined with the fixed network of Telekom Romania Communications, expects to create a 100% infrastructure-based convergent operator across B2C, B2B, and ICT markets, in sync with its convergence strategy.

Mari-Noëlle Jégo-Laveissière – Deputy CEO, in charge of Orange in Europe, said: “This acquisition is an important step to accelerate our convergence strategy in Europe. Romania is a key market for Orange and a great success story. This transaction confirms our long term commitment to the Romanian market.

“We are looking forward to contributing to the development of the telecoms sector through sustained investments in top performing network infrastructures and innovative services.”

The deal, which is subject to preceding customary conditions, which include antitrust clearance from the European Commission and other relevant authorities, the transaction, is likely to be closed within the second half of next year.