NetCity comes under fire

ACC Broadband Convention – Bucharest. NetCity has emerged as the single most important issue currently facing Romania’s cable industry.

At the end of this week’s ACC Broadband Convention, three of its most senior figures joined forces in a specially called press conference to voice their concerns about the project which would see the construction of a fibre-optic network in the capital, Bucharest.

Radu Petric, the president of the ACC, spoke of the lack of legislation, hidden costs and inevitable increases in cable subscription fees the project would bring.

Jack Mikaloff, the head of UPC Romania, meanwhile criticised the fact that cable operators would be forced to lease networks from a third party rather than use their own. He also said that the capital expenditure of moving from overground to underground infrastructure would ultimately be passed on to consumers and that NetCity would take at least 10 years to complete.

Their concerns were shared by Alexandru Oprea, the general manager of RCS/RDS, who also spoke of his company’s involvement in the mobile telephony sector.