Telecom group GTS Central Europe plans EUR 330 mln, EBRD-backed investments in Romania, region

Telecom company GTS Central Europe could receive a EUR 330 million loan from several banks, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, for investments in Romania, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

The EBRD is considering providing a long term loan of up to EUR 50 million, in order to support the company’s investment in expanding network coverage and increasing capacity and quality of services in the four countries. The loan will be discussed in EBRD's board at end-March. The loan would enable GTS to invest in new intelligent network applications and add more services locally and regionally, to meet the growing demand for hosting, cloud-based services and disaster recovery. The company will also invest in data centres and new intelligent network applications. GTS Telecom posted stable revenues in Romania last year, at EUR 23.5 million – around 6 percent of the firm’s total revenues in the region- despite “an unfavorable economic environment against Romania and the CEE region,” according to the company. Its earnings before taxes, interest, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) were of EUR 4.6 million last year. Parent company GTS posted revenues of EUR 396 million last year, with a profit of EUR 99 million before taxes. Corina Saceanu, corina@romania-insider.com