Cosmote Romania is preparing to launch services based on 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology as early as next year, the Romanian Business Review reports, citing the company’s CEO Stefanos Theocharoupoulos. The chief executive revealed: ‘We will launch LTE as soon as we [are in] possession of the licence. Our network is prepared, so we believe we will be in a position to launch LTE next year. With LTE, internet access will be much faster and the applications will be more user-friendly. However, I do not believe we will see a big change from one day to the next in terms of applications, but rather in the quality of the services’.
As previously reported by TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate, last month Cosmote’s domestic rivals Orange and Vodafone both disclosed plans to inaugurate LTE technology in 2013. In that month’s wide-ranging spectrum auction held by the National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM), Cosmote won one spectrum block in the 800MHz band, two blocks in the 900MHz band, five blocks in the 1800MHz band and two blocks in the 2600MHz band, all of which are valid between 2014 and 2029. It paid a total of EUR179.88 million (USD232.95 million) for the spectrum allocations it received..