BUCHAREST, Romania - June 1, 2005 - Cisco Systems announced today that Romtelecom, the largest telecom operator in Romania with 4.3 million lines and more than 4 million customers, has completed the deployment of an Internet Protocol (IP) network to become the first to deliver new highly secure IP-based services to businesses in 43 major metropolitan areas across the country.
The new carrier-class IP network, based on Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) technology, will also provide the foundation for Romtelecom's nationwide broadband Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) roll-out, which commenced in May this year.
Romtelecom is developing a complete portfolio of value-added services, including IP access and virtual private network (VPN) services, as part of its strategic plan to become a leader in the corporate services market by 2007. Since the launch of its IP-based business services, Romtelecom has achieved significant growth in revenues from this sector with a customer base of over 2000 companies.
"Our broadband Internet access services are becoming very attractive to the business segment, especially with the high-quality, professional customer care and Cisco customer premises equipment we offer," said Vasile Voicu, Data Services & Internet General Manager, Romtelecom.
Romtelecom plans to extend its IP network coverage by 50 percent this year and commence Next-Generation Network deployment efforts with the objective of delivering media-rich, high availability services to customers throughout Romania.
"Cisco provided valuable advice based on a solid perception and understanding of our business and was able to deliver the carrier-class solutions we required to help bring our IP services to market as quickly as possible," said Pieter Bakker, Chief Commercial Officer at Romtelecom. "And through the Cisco Powered Network (CPN) programme, we also gained the additional benefits of Cisco's expertise in delivering IP services for the corporate business market," added Mr. Bakker.
"Romtelecom has the commitment to accelerate the development of its network infrastructure and the vision to make advanced business communications services available throughout Romania. This network expansion and upgrade program will make significant contributions to economic development here," said Michael Ganser, vice president for the Central Eastern European region at Cisco Systems.
Romtelecom deployed Cisco 12000 Series routers at 8 core Points of Presence (PoPs) and Cisco 7200 Series routers at PoPs in 40 cities. A high-speed, metropolitan network for the capital city of Bucharest consists of three fibre-optic rings based on Cisco Gigabit Ethernet technology.
About Romtelecom
With over 4.3 million lines in service, of which 82% are digital and 100% automated, over 56,000 public pay-phones (based on pre-paid cards) and over 30,000 km of optical fiber, ROMTELECOM has the most advanced national infrastructure for telecommunications. Details of Romtelecom's services and product portfolio and additional information on the company can be found at http://www.romtelecom.ro.
