Romtelecom and Cosmote, lined up for merger, start opening co-branded stores in Romania

Telecom companies Romtelecom and Cosmote, both owned by Greek OTE, which have been said to merge, will open six integrated stores in Bucharest, Targoviste, Sibiu and Bacau. “One of our priorities for 2011 is to improve the sale network […]. With the opening of these new stores, we exploit the synergies between the two companies […],” said Panos Makris, head of the commercial division with Cosmote in Romania. Romtelecom has over 350 selling points in Romania- either its own units or in collaboration with Cosmote Romania and Germanos, as well as other dealers across the country. Cosmote Romania runs 640 stores in total, which include 270 Cosmote stores, as well as stores opened together with Romtelecom and Germanos stores. OTE also owns GSM retailer Germanos in Romania. The Romanian Communications Minister Valerian Vreme has recently said the merger between Cosmote and Romtelecom will be started, while the state will prepare to list its share package in Romtelecom on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. The state owns 45.9 percent in Romtelecom, while OTE, 54.01 percent. Greek group OTE has recently said it didn't want to buy the Romanian state’s share package in telecom company Romtelecom, as the timing was not right. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: Romtelecom)