Mtel (Bulgaria)

Mobiltel
Industry mobile telecommunications
Founded 1994 in Sofia, Bulgaria
Headquarters 1 Kukush Str., Sofia, Bulgaria
Key people
 Aleksandar Dimitrov, CEO
Dejan Kastelic, CTO
Brands loop, bob
Services Satellite television, IPTV, Fixed/Mobile telephony, Internet service provider
Revenue Decrease €364.7 mil. [1] (2015)
Increase €42.1 mil. [2] (2015)
Number of employees
 3,607 [3] (2016)
Parent Telekom Austria Group
Website www.mtel.bg

Mtel ("Мобилтел" or "Мтел" in Bulgarian /network code 284-01/), also known as "Mobiltel", is the first and largest GSM mobile phone operator in Bulgaria. It has more than 4.2 million customers. Company was founded in March 1994 but was not launched commercially until September 1995 (as Citron).[4]

In 2001 M-Tel (the brand then) launched its prepayment sim cards which allow customers to purchase credits prior to calling friends, this was a great success and saw the amount of customers using their network increase dramatically.

The company had a market share of about 58% and 3,000,000 clients in September 2004. On 14 September 2006 M-Tel reached 4,000,000 clients. As of May 2006 the company has 4,400,000 subscribers and its market share fell to 51,1%. Its contract customers increased to 1,7 mln, while the profit per customer dropped to 9,9 euro for Q1 2007.[5]

The operator has been owned by Telekom Austria Group since July 2005, when it was acquired for up to €1.6 billion in one of Central and Eastern Europe's largest deals and one of the largest foreign investments in Austria. Mobiltel was the first Bulgarian operator to offer EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, HSPA+ and second to offer LTE services to its clients, with video telephony services being available since 6 March 2006 in the capital Sofia and since mid-July 2006 throughout the Bulgarian Black Sea resorts.[6]

The company was the official sponsor of Bulgarian football club PFC Levski Sofia. Since 2005, the company also organizes the strong annual M-Tel Masters chess tournament, which is attended by six of the world's best International Grandmasters.

Despite the difficult economic environment affecting the entire IT and Telco industry in Bulgaria, Mobiltel's performance remains stable with a customer base of 5.3 million. The postpaid subscribers increased from 61% to roughly 66%. Mobiltel's market share by end Q1/2011 stays at 49.3%.

The Mtel network uses the access code 88. Until 2003, it also used the codes 89 and 87, which had been added as the network had expanded. In mid-2003, however, mobile numbers in Bulgaria increased by one digit and the M-Тel network code returned to being 88 only.

Mobiltel owns Loop, the largest virtual mobile operator operating in Bulgaria, specially designed for young customers. In 2011 Mtel created pre-paid service for cheap telephone calls, SMS and mobile Internet bob, which is available in Austria and Slovenia too.

In 2012 M-tel was rebranded with a new logo, and the dash in the name was removed leaving Mtel (Мтел) as shown in the new logo.

On July 28, 2015, Mtel and Max signed a contract for national roaming. This is the first agreement for sharing networks in the Bulgarian telecom market.

On July 29, 2015, Mobiltel said has agreed to buy cable TV and internet service provider Blizoo. On September 18, 2015, CPC gave green light of the deal and the merger was done by the end of the year.

On September 15, 2016, Mtel became the official sponsor of the most successful Bulgarian football club CSKA Sofia. From 2016–17 season Mtel became the team's principal shirt sponsor.

Network

Mtel has built various types of networks. The company was first to launch GSM, HSPA, HSPA+ and test LTE in Bulgaria. It also has optical fibre coverage in most of the big towns (by recent acquisition of former blizoo). In 2012 after big commercials Mtel announced DTH. As of 2016 depending on your location Mtel can offer to you IPTV (marketed as Interactive television), CATV (former blizoo), HSPA, HSPA+, LTE and Optical internet (up to 200 Mbps downlink).

Television

IPTV

Mtel's IPTV is marketed as Interactive television.

CATV

Mtel acquried blizoo in June 2015 as a result the company now has access to up to 1.5 Million people thanks to blizoo's DVB-C network. Most of the network is FTTB.

DTH

In 2012 after big commercials Mtel announced DTH.

Mtel Now

After many unsuccessful tries with mobile IPTV, Mobiltel finally made a breakthrough with its latest new service called Mtel Now. As of June 2016 it has been free for current television users (including blizoos'). Mtel Now offers 40 channels, some in HD on all type of devices. The app is available in Google Play Store and AppStore.

Broadband Internet

Mtel's first major investment was in Megalan Networks.

Services

References

  1. ↑ http://cdn1.telekomaustria.com/final/en/media/pdf/TAG_Annual_Report%202015.pdf TAG Annual Report 2015
  2. ↑ http://cdn1.telekomaustria.com/final/en/media/pdf/TAG_Annual_Report%202015.pdf TAG Annual Report 2015
  3. ↑ http://cdn1.telekomaustria.com/final/en/media/pdf/TAG_Annual_Report%202015.pdf TAG Annual Report 2015
  4. ↑ "Редакционни коментари - Ако Мтел все още беше Цитрон... - Капитал". www.capital.bg.
  5. ↑ Калина Декова. "Приходите на Мтел нарастват с 12%, пазарният дял намалява". Investor.bg.
  6. ↑ http://www.mtel.bg/mobiltel/press_det.php?press_det_id=138
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