From the business point of view 2013 was a busy year for us.
The first half of this year marked an important milestone – we entered the TV market by offering high quality multiscreen television. We are offering not only a classical TV service, but also TV for smartphones or tablets. In fact, we just launched Orange TV Go, that allows our clients to access the same content that they see on TV on their tablet or smartphone. And we believe this is the future trend: people will watch more and more TV in different ways, on multiple devices, anytime, anywhere, on the move.
Another important moment of 2013 is the development and deployment of 4G network. In 2012 we launched this latest technology, which is the wireless motorway that enables us to access internet content with very high speed and no network latency. We recently extended the 4G coverage to the entire area of Bucharest, besides Prahova valley, and will continue to extend starting April 2014, as soon as the spectrum frequencies we invested in, last year, are available.
This year we also consolidated our position as market leader, in terms of market and value share with more than 140.000 new customer joining Orange. In terms of revenues, the first 9 month of 2013 confirmed the positive financial performance, continuing the recovery trend from the end of 2012. This means that, next year, we will continue investing in our network quality, with a focus on 4G, in enriching our portfolio of personalized products and services and in the way we interact with our customers.
The biggest challenge we face, in this dynamic and challenging market, is the strong regulatory pressure with the upcoming decrease of inter-operator rates. Still, we are looking ahead, focusing on our customer expectations and on deliver on our strategy build around offering innovative services, segmented propositions and a high level of customer satisfaction. Our aim is to make the technology affordable and accessible to all our customers, on all devices. The experience of the last years confirmed us that very important for every telecom operator is the care towards its customers. That is why delivering on customers’ expectations will be a key driver of customer satisfaction and loyalty in the coming year. Romania is a fast evolving market.
Technologies are changing fast, so are our customers, that’s why we need to adapt ourselves constantly. In the future it will be more and more about communication between devices. There are a lot of ways our industry can grow and a lot of new technologies arriving on the market. One way of looking at the future is to look at the past. Ten years ago, in the 2000s, we were still using those gray phones with a few buttons and all we could do was send sms. If we look at what we are doing now with the devices and the communication tools we have around us, I’m not sure if we could have imagined that ten years ago. We expect that, in the next years, this trend will only be accelerated. We see this already happening with the richness of devices that we are selling with our shop, such has health monitoring, sport accessories and many more on the way.
In terms of investments, every year, 10% to 15% of our turnover is invested in improving and developing our network. We already refreshed our network in the rural areas and, at this moment, we are refreshing it in the urban areas. Next year, the main focus will be on developing the 4G. The level of this investment will heavily depend on the level of the Termination rates that will be decided by the regulatory authorithy ANCOM.
Another of our key investments will go into training our colleagues in the shops and customer care centers to help newcomer customers get into this new digital world. New customers buying smartphones for the first time need guidance and help and we want to be the Digital Coach of our customers.
We will continue to invest and develop Orange TV and Orange TV Go. In the next period we will concentrate on developing the service and extend the channel grid.
