About Us
STRATEGY
Our mission is to provide our customers with high-quality telecommunications services at competitive prices. Specific components of our strategy include the following:
- Continue to leverage our advanced fixed networks in Romania and Hungary, offering high-quality service, while maintaining competitive prices. The current technological state of our Romanian and Hungarian fixed networks allows us to offer a wide range of advanced high-quality services to customers at competitive prices, while maintaining low infrastructure operating expenses. In particular, our Romanian and Hungarian networks are more than 90% fiber (excluding certain parts of Invitel’s network, which we are currently upgrading) and are faster and more cost-effective than traditional networks operated by our competitors in those countries. We intend to continue leveraging existing network capabilities to further increase the number of cable TV and fixed internet and data subscribers in those core markets. In both countries, we intend to also continue expanding our networks further (particularly, in rural areas) and we plan to finalize the upgrade of Invitel’s Hungarian network to fiber in the near future, along with further upgrades to FTTH elsewhere.
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Continue to grow our RGU base in all business lines, both organically and through acquisitions. Growth in RGUs has always been the primary driver of increases in our revenue, both organically and through acquisitions, but primarily due to the expansion of our fixed networks in Romania and Hungary, cross-selling of additional services to our existing customers. Our goal is to continue that RGU growth in all our business lines and geographies. We aim to grow organically by expanding our networks and increasing the penetration of our cable TV, fixed internet and data, mobile telecommunication, fixed-line telephony and DTH services through multiple service offers and cross-selling to existing and prospective customers. In addition to organic growth, we may choose to further expand our RGU base through acquisitions in line with, or complementary to, our current business.
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Further grow our mobile telecommunication business in Romania and Hungary by expanding the coverage of our mobile networks and acquiring additional license blocks or bandwidth. As at December 31, 2019, our 3G (2G+4G in certain areas) and 4G mobile telecommunication services covered (outdoor voice coverage) approximately 99.5% and 87.2% of Romania’s population, respectively. As at the same date, our 2G and 4G mobile telecommunication services covered (outdoor voice coverage) approximately 78.0% of Hungary’s population (although our mobile telecommunication offering in Hungary is still in the testing phase and is currently only available to our existing customers in the country). We have 2G, 3G and 4G licenses, as relevant, in both countries and have been able to introduce a 5G service in certain Romanian cities based on our existing 3,700 MHz license. We believe that our dense fixed networks and existing licenses provide a solid foundation for further development of our mobile telecommunication infrastructure and offerings in these core markets. We may also participate in additional frequency blocks/bandwidth tenders or auctions to complement our existing set of mobile telecommunication licenses as and when they get organized by relevant licensing authorities.
- Focus on current core Romanian and Hungarian markets, while maintaining expansion dynamics in Spain and remaining open to opportunities in Italy. We intend to focus primarily on Romania and Hungary, our current core markets, while continuing our expansion in Spain and remaining open to opportunities in Italy. In the core jurisdictions, our advanced networks allow us to efficiently deliver multiple services in the areas covered and we believe there is scope for increase in uptake of our services in these areas with relatively low additional investment. Our large and growing customer base creates significant economies of scale. For example, it allows us to make use of common infrastructure design and centralized facilities, as well as exploit centralized purchasing opportunities with respect to programming, equipment, TV broadcast rights and other assets and services. We also see potential for growth of our mobile telecommunication and internet and data services, as we believe that the core Romanian and Hungarian mobile markets still offer opportunities for us to expand. In addition, we remain open to attractive opportunities in Spain and Italy, such as our expansion into Spain’s fixed telecommunications market in September 2018. We believe that Spain presents significant future growth opportunities for our business outside of the core Romanian and Hungarian markets and expect our Spanish operations to continue gaining prominence relative to our other geographic segments.
- Offer premium content to increase the attractiveness of our product offerings. We intend to maintain and increase the attractiveness of our cable TV and DTH services by continuing to offer sports, film and other premium content through our existing own channel line-up, which may be further developed or expanded in the future. Our large number of pay TV RGUs results in economies of scale enabling an attractive cost structure.
Key Strengths
We consider our key strengths to include the following:
- Attractive local markets with stable structural growth.
- Market leadership in core business lines and robust growth of customers’ number.
- Advanced infrastructure, including nationwide fiber networks in Romania and Hungary and the fastest growing, in terms of customers, mobile network in Romania.
- Leading commercial proposition for customers.
- Robust financial performance.
- Highly experienced management team.
HISTORY
Our Development in Romania
Our cable TV business was started in 1992 by a group of Romanian individuals, including Mr. Zoltán Teszári, when they founded TVS Holding Brasov to build cable networks and offer cable TV services in Timisoara and Brasov, two major Romanian cities. In 1996, Mr. Teszári merged certain assets of his Bucharest-based cable TV network company, Kappa, with Analog CATV to form Romania Cable Systems S.A. (“RCS”). Thereafter, RCS grew mainly organically, but also through acquisitions of fixed internet and data networks throughout the country.
In 1997, RCS established an internet and data subsidiary, Romania Data Systems S.A. (“RDS”). In 2001, RDS began rolling out residential internet services over RCS’ cable network, and, by 2002, it had grown to become the leading ISP in Romania in terms of revenue. It started offering limited fixed-line telephony services to business and international customers in 2003, immediately following the liberalization of the Romanian fixed-line telephony market. In 2004, after completing an interconnection agreement with Telekom Romania, it launched mass-market fixed-line telephony services.
In December 2004, we launched DTH services in Romania under the brand name“DIGI.”
In 2005, RCS merged with TVS Holding Brasov and RDS to form the Issuer.
In 2007, we launched 3G mobile telecommunication services in Romania under the brand name “DIGI Mobil.” Thereafter, we have acquired additional frequency blocks in various bandwidths in order to expand our capacity and develop our 3G and 4G networks.
In 2017 and 2018, we undertook a major re-branding exercise aimed at increasing our “DIGI” brand recognition.
In June 2019, we launched 5G mobile telecommunication services in certain Romanian cities based on our existing 3,700 MHz license.
Expansion to Foreign Operations
We began our international expansion in 1998 by commencing operations in Hungary. During 1999-2006 we established smaller footprints in other Central and Eastern European countries, subsidiaries which were disposed of afterwards. We also launched MVNO services in Spain (in 2008) and Italy (in 2010), initially targeting the large Romanian communities in those countries.
On the other hand, we have continued our expansion in Hungary and Spain. In 2018, we acquired Invitel, which contributed significantly to our footprint in Hungary. In 2018, we rolled-out an offering of fixed internet and data and fixed-line telephony in Spain. In 2019, we launched a 2G and 4G mobile telecommunications offering in Hungary to our existing customers as part of network testing.
Further Evolution of our Corporate Structure and the IPO
In 2000, Digi Communications N.V., the holding company for the Group, was established.
In 2017, Digi Communications N.V. conducted an IPO on the Regulated Market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (“BVB”). Class A and Class B ordinary shares were created, and the latter are traded on BVB.
Own TV Channels & Radio Stations
Since July 2009, we have offered our own TV channels to our customers and individuals that subscribe to certain other cable operators in Romania and Hungary. Our first such channel was the premium content sports channel, DIGI Sport. Our channel offering now includes sports channels (DIGI Sport 1, DIGI Sport 2, DIGI Sport 3 and DIGI Sport 4 (each in Romania) and DIGI Sport 1, DIGI Sport 2 and DIGI Sport 3 (each in Hungary)), a pay TV movie channel (DIGI FILM), a news channel (DIGI 24), documentary channels (DIGI World, DIGI Life and DIGI Animal World) and music channels UTV and Hora TV. We also own an interest in Music Channel.
Starting from May 2015, we also have been operating radio stations in Romania (Pro FM, Music FM, Dance FM, DIGI FM)
Areas of operations
We operate in Romania, Hungary, Spain and Italy. The scope of our services varies from country to country.
The table below sets out our current business lines available in each of our geographies:
| Countries | Cable TV | Fixed Internet and Data | Mobile Telecommunication services | Fixed-line Telephony | DTH |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Romania | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Hungary | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Spain | — | ✓(1) | ✓(2) | ✓(1) | — |
| Italy | — | — | ✓(2) | — | — |
(1) Through Telefónica’s network and through our own GPON FTTH network.
(2) As an MVNO through Telefónica’s network in Spain and TIM’s network in Italy.
Board of Directors
Serghei Bulgac (Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director)
Mr. Bulgac is an executive member of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Bulgac was appointed as Chief Executive Officer and President of the Board of Directors of RCS & RDS in 2015. Prior to becoming Chief Executive Officer, he was Vice-president and non-executive member of RCS & RDS. Mr. Bulgac joined RCS & RDS in 2003. Prior to joining RCS & RDS, he worked as a corporate finance associate at EPIC (European Privatization and Investment Corporation) and as a research analyst at Eastbrokers, a brokerage company. Mr. Bulgac graduated from the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies and holds an MBA degree from INSEAD. In April 2020 Mr. Bulgac was re-appointed as Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director and his current term is due to expire in April 2024.Valentin Popoviciu (Executive Director)
Mr. Popoviciu is an executive member of the Board of Directors. He is also an executive member and VicePresident of the board of directors of RCS & RDS (since 2019, previously holding a non-executive membership and the vice-presidency of the Board, between 2015 – 2019). Prior to his appointment in the board of directors of RCS & RDS, Mr. Popoviciu had held the position of Business Development Manager of RCS & RDS since 1999, after joining the company in 1998 as a branch manager in the Constanta office. Mr. Popoviciu graduated from the economics faculty of the Constanta— Ovidius University in 1997. Mr. Popoviciu was re-appointed as Executive Director in April 2020 and his current term is due to expire in April 2024.Emil Jugaru (Non-executive Director)
Mr. Emil Jugaru is a non-executive member of the Board of Directors since April 30, 2019, when he replaced Dr. Sambor Ryszka. Mr. Emil Jugaru is a graduate of the Faculty of Automation and Computers Sciences of the Polytechnic University of Bucharest. Since 1997, Mr. Emil Jugaru has coordinated the start-up and development of the broadband Internet business line of RCS & RDS, the Romanian subsidiary of Digi Communications N.V., actively participating at the development of Group's successful Internet network and services. He currently holds also the position as Head of Sales and Customer Care Business Unit at RCS & RDS. Mr. Emil Jugaru was reappointed in April 2020 as a Non-executive Director and his current term is due to expire in April 2024.Marius Varzaru (Vice-President and Non-executive Director)
Mr. Varzaru was appointed in 2013 as a Non-executive Director of the Company. Mr. Varzaru has been the Managing Director of Digi Spain since 2008. Mr. Varzaru joined RCS & RDS in 2005 as Reporting Manager and was shortly thereafter appointed to the position of Finance Director, a position he held up until 2008. Before joining RCS & RDS, Mr. Varzaru worked at KPMG. Mr. Varzaru graduated from the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies in 2001. Mr. Varzaru was re-appointed as Vice-President and Non-executive Director in April 2020 and his current term is due to expire in April 2024.Bogdan Ciobotaru (Independent Non-executive Director)
Bogdan Ciobotaru is considered an independent, non-executive member of the Board. He is also a non-executive member of the board of directors of the Company’s subsidiary RCS & RDS, a position he has held since 2013. Prior to joining RCS & RDS, Mr. Ciobotaru held the position of Head of Financing for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa at Renaissance Capital and the position of Executive Director in the Global Capital Markets, at Morgan Stanley in London, where he worked for over 10 years. Mr. Ciobotaru graduated from the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies and holds an Executive MBA from Oxford University. Mr. Ciobotaru was reappointed as Non-executive Director in April 2020 and his current term is due to expire in April 2024.Piotr Rymaszewski (Independent Non-executive Director)
Mr. Rymaszewski is considered an independent, non-executive member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Rymaszewski also holds the position of CEO of Onyx Asset Management, a Polish real-estate portfolio management company. Since 2007, Mr. Rymaszewski has also served as CEO and President of the board of directors of Octava S.A., a listed company. Mr. Rymaszewski’s experience in advisory and supervisory roles includes serving on the Board of Nominees of Fondul Proprietatea S.A., a Romanian publicly traded AIF since 2012. Mr. Rymaszewski holds a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from the University of Pennsylvania and a JD degree in International and Commercial Law from Cornell Law School. Mr. Rymaszewski was re-appointed as Independent Non-executive Director in April 2020 and his current term is due to expire in April 2024.We are an European leader in geographically-focused telecommunication solutions, based on the number of revenue generating units (“RGUs”) and a leading provider of telecommunication services in Romania and Spain, with a presence also in Italy, Portugal and Belgium.