TIRANA, Nov. 3 – Leading Vodafone Albania mobile operator is planning to invest €50 million in the next two years in new technologies and will also be examining the possibility of entering the fixed telephony market.
Dietlof Mare, the CEO of Vodafone Albania, says Vodafone has invested nearly €500 million in infrastructure during the past 13 years in Albania and will focus on its 4G coverage and its newly launched M-Pesa mobile payment service.
“As the volume of data is increasing tremendously, we are looking at investing more than €50 million in new technologies, which will not be just upgrading, but also building capacities to meet such demand,” Mare said in an interview published by the Foreign Investors Association of Albania (FIAA).
Rolling out 4G across the country and expanding its distribution network as part of its M-Pesa service will be the key investments.
“It is very likely that we will have to double this investment if we decide to invest in fixed telephony – either building it ourselves or buying one of the existing players. If we do go into fixed, especially fixed broadband, that would be quite a significant investment for Vodafone and Albania,” he said.
Mare, who has been in charge of Vodafone Albania for almost 4 years now, says he has been impressed with the Albanians’ skills in speaking foreign languages and is planning to bring service centres to Albania to support other Vodafone markets.
“Since my first days in Albania, I have been impressed how skilled the Albanians are in speaking many languages. I am looking forward to capitalising on this by adding more value in the service we provide, as we plan to bring service centres in Albania to support other Vodafone markets, such as Italy and Germany. I believe this will have a very positive impact on the labour market in Albania and in return it will offer employment opportunities to young people in the country,” he said.
Earlier this year, Albania became the second country in Europe to launch the Vodafone M-Pesa service mobile payment solution to send money to friends and family, pay bills, buy airtime, in a safe, fast, affordable way, anywhere, any place in the country.
Vodafone Albania, part of UK-based Vodafone Group is the leading mobile operator in Albania with a market share of around 50 percent in terms of subscribers and income. Vodafone, which has been present in Albania since 2001, was the first operator to introduce the 3G service offering faster mobile internet and has also recently launched 4G.
