| Type | Joint Stock Company |
|---|---|
| Industry | telecommunications |
| Founded | 1992 |
| Headquarters | Sofia, Bulgaria |
| Key people | Bernard Moscheni, CEO |
| Products | fixed line telephony, Internet services, mobile telephony (as Vivatel) |
| Revenue | €515.7 million (2006)[1] |
| Employees | 9,370 [2] |
| Website | http://www.vivacom.bg |
VIVACOM (Bulgarian: VIVACOM), previously named Bulgarian Telecommunications company (BTC) is the largest telecommunications company in Bulgaria and a former state-owned monopoly. Founded as a joint stock company in the end of 1992 as part of the separation of Bulgaria's post and telecommunication services into separate companies, it serves a total of 2.6 million fixed phone lines and employs about 10,000 people.
In June 2004 65% of the Bulgarian Telecommunications Company were sold to Viva Ventures, owned by Advent International, for €280 million (about 380 million U.S. dollars). As part of the deal, BTC was provided a GSM operator license and launched Vivatel, Bulgaria's third GSM operator, in 2005. An UMTS license was additionally purchased in May 2005. In May 2007 the company was sold again. AIG purchased both the Bulgarian Telecommunications Company and the third Bulgarian mobile operator, Vivatel for total price of €1,661 billion.[3]
Besides serving the vast majority of fixed telephone lines in the country, BTC is also the biggest Bulgarian ADSL Internet service provider with 100,000 customers.
Icelandic-led Novator acquired a 65% stake for an undisclosed sum. In 2007 the stake was sold for £855m (about 1.2 billion U.S. Dollars).[1][2]
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The service is available beginning September 1, all over the country, with three basic packages with different program lineups.
VIVACOM TV Start will cost BGN 9.8 per month and includes 40 TV channels and 10 radio stations– in addition to the three main ones, the Bulgarian National TV (BNT), bTV and Nova Televizia, the package offers bTV Cinema, bTV Action, bTV Comedy, Fox Life, Diema, CNN, Euronews, DW, the sports channels Eurosport and RING.bg, Fiesta TV, Animal Planet, the musical channels MAD, City TV, T rock, Planeta Folk, Fen TV, Balkanika, the kids ones Е-KIDS and Super 7, among others.
The biggest package EXTRA includes over 70 channels for the price of BGN 17.80 per month.
The Vivacom digital TV can be ordered without long-term contracts, but one- and two-year ones offer discounts of 50% for the first three or six months.
The Vivacom digital TV further offers an Electronic Program Guide (EPG) for a week ahead and parent control tools.
Vivacom is adding digital TV to its already bundled services – stationary phone line, cell phone services, and internet.
Vivacom TV will air via the largest satellite operator Intelsat – a 15-year partner of the company. Vivacom plans to introduce in the very near future HD programs to its basic digital packages.
VIVACOM offers an ADSL broadband Internet service through its traditional copper telephone line and a FTH optical internet connection in Sofia. It is currently the largest ISP in Bulgaria. The company also owns the majority of the optical infrastructure, which is limited to major cities.
It also offers mobile broadband through its 3G network- which has limited availability outside of major cities. http://vivacom.bg/en/residential/mobile_coverage/view
Both the 2G and 3G coverage outside of cities are variable and often with lower connection speeds than those promised. For example a download of 0.04Mbps and upload of 0.01Mbps compared to the stated maximum speed for data transfer within VIVACOM 2G network of a download of 236.8 Kbps and upload - 118.4 Kbps.
Fixed services are available through both the conventional copper line and the GSM network. VIVACOM (then Vivatel) started offering mobile services in 2004, purchasing an additional UMTS license in 2005. HSDPA is also available as of 2009. Clients should be aware that 30 days notice are required to terminate contracts which are due to expire or the contract will be renewed, though Vivacom company policy states that contracts are not automatically renewed.
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