BULGARIA Cutting edge technology keeps MobilTel on top

Mobiltel is Bulgaria’s leading mobile telecommunications company and aims to remain in the number one slot. “MobilTel is committed to keeping the competitive edge in mobile services,” says Executive Director, Rumyana Kyuchukova. The company,
established in 1994, was Bulgaria’s first GSM operator and ever since, has experienced fantastic customer and revenue growth. During 2001, MobilTel achieved a 62% growth in sales revenues and a 241% increase in net income. This was largely due to an increase in the number of subscribers spurred on by a decrease in the cost of a GSM handset. Such astonishing success has not escaped the attention of foreign investors, and in December 2001, prompted Austrian investors to acquire full control of MobilTel.

MobilTel has always been aware that, sooner or later, competing GSM companies would enter the Bulgarian market and has continually and heavily invested in network expansion, new switches and platforms and new value-added services. These include the introduction of its dedicated information service (M-Tel) in 1998, and, more recently, the launch of pre-paid scratch cards. In 2001 MobilTel also opened 20 new business centers, giving it a total of 120 business centers in 61 Bulgarian towns.
The company tends to thrive on competition. Following the start-up of mobile phone operator GloBul in September, MobilTel registered sales increases of 21%. This success was due to MobilTel’s newly introduced, more flexible schedule of prices and the new packages it has developed for its subscribers. MobilTel’s prices are currently at a similar level to those in Germany, Great Britain and Italy.

Staying ahead of the competition also means playing a leading role in the development of cutting-edge technologies. By forming alliances and subsidiary companies, MobilTel has been able to diversify into navigation and tracking services, Internet solutions, and VSAT communication. This means that it not only offers the full range of GSM telecommunications services, such as international roaming, data transmission, fax, e-mail and internet access, but it is also perfectly positioned to use Digital VSAT technology, 2-way data transfer and point-to-point/multipoint connections for its business customers.
Training and development schemes for personnel at all levels in the company are also at the heart of MobilTel’s success story. “All the results of our work could not have been achieved without the efforts, commitment and professionalism of our workforce,” says Ms. Kyuchukova.