Orbitel

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Orbitel, Inc
Type limited liability company
Founded 1997
Headquarters Sofia, Bulgaria
Key people Sándor Polani, CEO
Industry telecommunications
Products Internet services, Virtual private networks, fixed telephony, carrier selection, web hosting, corporative e-mail
Revenue ▼ €8.95 million (2007)
Employees 141 (December, 2006)
Website http://www.orbitel.bg

Orbitel (Bulgarian: Орбител) is Bulgaria's largest alternative wireline telecommunications and Internet service provider with national licenses for voice and data. Through its national packet-switched network Orbitel provides convergent telecommunication solutions throughout Bulgaria.

Orbitel offers convergent communication solutions for telephony, high speed Internet and VPNs in more than 35 cities throughout the country. They provide full scope of value added services — web site hosting, domain registration, corporate e-mail and professional consultations.

Orbitel is the first Bulgarian technology start-up funded by institutional VCs. It has been founded in 1997 by the entrepreneurs Victor Francess and Nikolai Gorchilov, who were serving as board members and CEOs till 2007.

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[edit] Foreign Investors

[edit] European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

In 2001 The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development chose Orbitel to make the first foreign investment in the Bulgarian IT sector. The company becomes one of the biggest Bulgarian Internet service providers.

[edit] Deutsche Telekom

Since February 2006 Orbitel is part of the Deutsche Telekom Group — the biggest European telecommunications company. Orbitel's shareholder is the leading Hungarian operator Magyar Telekom, a member of the German telecommunications group.

[edit] Network

Orbitel's next generation network backbone is based on state-of-the-art MPLS technology and covers more than 35 cities, among which are all the district centres in Bulgaria and the European telecommunication centre London. The network is built on 100% digital transmission technologies — fibre and microwave lines. The high quality of Orbitel's services is guaranteed by connectivity to leading international operators such as Deutsche Telekom, OTE, France Telecom, Verizon and interconnections to the Bulgarian operators and ISPs.

Orbitel introduced the first next generation telecommunication platform in Southeastern Europe. Lead by its vision, the company introduced the softswitch based technology for convergent voice, data and video, proven by operators such as France Telecom, Telefonica, FastWeb and Tiscali.

By the end of 2007 Orbitel created own national fiber network built as per the cutting edge DWDM technology, part of long-term strategy of the company for development as a key broadband operator in Bulgaria. The backbone network of Orbitel has capacity of 10 Gbit/second and covers 23 cities in the country (90% of the population). The network has four independent international high-speed links and is part of Deutsche Telekom Eastern European fiber ring.

[edit] Innovations

Orbitel transforms progress into new communication opportunities. More than 50 achievements of the Bulgarian Internet and telecom industries belong to Orbitel. Among them are:

  • January 1998: Internet access with guaranteed capacity (CIR)
  • February 1998: 24-hour technical support centre
  • January 1999: VoIP technology implementation
  • May 1999: On-line audio and video Internet broadcast
  • September 2000: Virtual Private Networks (VPN)
  • November 2001: VoIP services for the Bulgarian market
  • July 2003: Licensed competitor on the liberalized telecom market
  • October 2003: Next generation telecommunication platform
  • April 2004: The first Interconnect between a competitive fixed and a mobile telecom operator
  • January 2005: The first Interconnect between a next generation telecom and the incumbent
  • February 2005: The first service for free dial-up access
  • March 2005: The first operational competitive fixed telecom operator
  • April 2005: The first new generation telecom service
  • April 2005: Launch of the business model of unlimited calls in the telecom sector
  • June 2005: The first national carrier selection service for private users
  • June 2005: Launch of the low-cost model in the telecom sector
  • June 2006: Bulgarian phone lines redirected to an international phone number for Bulgarians living abroad.

[edit] Partners

Some of the largest companies in Bulgaria have entrusted their communications to Orbitel. Amongst them are Allianz Bulgaria, Telenor Bulgaria, Kaufland, Deutsche bank, Raiffeisenbank, Hilton Hotels, Radisson Hotels, WAZ, Doverie-Briko, Eurofootball, Litex, International Asset Bank, Nexcom Bulgaria, LUKoil Bulgaria, Commercial League, Hit Hypermarket, etc

[edit] External links