 | |
| Company type | Public limited company |
|---|---|
| BVB:DIGI | |
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Predecessor | TVS Holding Brasov (1992) Kappa (1993) |
| Founded | 1994; 31 years ago (1994) 2000; 25 years ago (2000) (Cable Communications NV holding company) |
| Headquarters | Bucharest,Romania |
Area served | Romania Spain Italy Belgium Portugal |
Key people | Zoltán Teszári (President) Serghei Bulgac (CEO) |
| Products | Cable television Satellite television Broadband internet Fixed-line telephony Mobile telephony Television production Pay television |
| Revenue |  €1.70 billion (2023)[1] |
Number of employees | 10 177[2] (2023) |
| Website | www www www www www www |
Digi Communications N.V., also known asDIGI Group, is a Romanian telecommunications holding company, which also has businesses inItaly,Spain,Portugal andBelgium. The firm has current statutory seat in theNetherlands and headquarters of effective management in Romania. Digi was founded byZoltán Teszári, who is the majority shareholder, and has been listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange since May 16, 2017.
In 2019, Digi had a market share of 51% in Romania and the vast majority of its subscribers are connected via fiber, a process which was started in 2006. This has had a major contribution to Romania's status as a country with one of the highest fixed broadband internet speeds in the world.[3][4][5]
In 2023, Digi Group extended the fiber networks in Spain to cover over 8.7 million homes. InRomania, the company maintained a rapid pace in the rollout of 5G and also introduced5G services in Spain. The revenues and other income increased by 13% toEUR 1.7 billion, while RGUs in Romania and Spain grew by 15%, reaching 23.8 million units, and adjustedEBITDA rose to EUR 592 million.
In 1992 TVS Holding Brasov was developed by Zoltán Teszári, Ioan Bendei and other businessmen. The company offered cable television services inBrașov andTimișoara. In 1993, Zoltán Teszári co-founded Kappa cable company in Bucharest. In 1996, the shareholders decided to divide the Kappa network into two equal parts. Half owned by Zoltán Teszári merged with Analog CATV SA cable company in Bucharest. The other half was bought in 2000 byAstral Telecom, which in 2005 was merged withUPC Romania (nowVodafone Romania). This separation of the company led to the division of the areas in Bucharest between the two companies for 10 years.
In 1997, the company changed its name toRomania Cable Systems S.A. (RCS). Same year it is establishedRomania Data Systems S.A. (RDS) which offers internet services. Among the investors in the company from the beginning until the listing on the stock exchange were Carpathian Cable Investments S.a.R.L. from 1998 and Celest Limited from 1999.
The company entered Hungary in November 1998 after buying 15 small and medium cable companies inBudapest and 3 other cities. Between December 1999 and January 2000, the first cable networks were acquired inSlovakia, where Slovakia Cable Systems (SCS) was 95% owned by RCS.
In April 2000, the project to build a 4,200 km nationalfiber optic network was initiated.[6]
In 2003, after the liberalization of the market, thefixed telephony service was launched in Romania. Digi TVsatellite television platform was first launched in Romania in December 2004, followed by launches in Hungary in February 2006, in theCzech Republic and Slovakia in August 2006 and inCroatia andSerbia in December 2006.
RCS and RDS merged to form RCS & RDS S.A. on 26 April 2005. The company focused on rapid development both organically and through acquisitions. The C-Zone network was acquired in 2006, entering certain areas in Bucharest that were not covered due to zone exclusivity. In these areas RCS & RDS kept the brand until 2009.
Digi Slovakia, including the Digi Sport television channels in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, were sold toSlovak Telekom in 2013.[7] Also, satellite television subsidiary in the Czech Republic was sold to Lama Energy in March 2015,[8] which continued to use the Digi brand for other acquired internet and IPTV provider until 1 April 2020.[9]The subsidiary in Croatia was sold toA1 Telekom Austria's Vipnet (nowA1 Croatia).[10]
In 2014, the mobile phone service was relaunched, followed by the launch of4G service in 2015.
Satellite television subsidiary in Serbia was sold to Kopernikus Technology, which in turn was sold toTelekom Srbija (mts) in 2018.[11]
In 2017, Digi bought theInvitel cable company in Hungary. After initially receiving approval in May 2018, it was revoked in November 2018, due to finding non-competitive issues in certain areas. These have been resolved and the transaction was completed in March 2020.[12]
in 2021, the whole Hungarian division (including Invitel) was bought by 4iG Nyrt. In 2025 the company was merged withVodafone (also owned by 4iG Nyrt.) and becameOne.[13][14]
Cable Communications Systems NV was established in the Netherlands in 2000 and is the parent company of RCS & RDS SA, the Romanian company founded in 1994 by Zoltán Teszári. It was renamed Digi Communications NV in 2017 when was listed.[15]
Digi implementedFTTB technology on almost the entire network in Romania and Hungary in 2006. Then followed the implementation of GPON in 2008, covering the houses as well. In 2013 started replacing FTTB withFTTH. They started the business in Spain in 2008.In 2018 Digi started offering internet services through FTTH in Spain. As of first half of 2023, it counts for 5.7 millions of clients.[16]
The company launched Digi Mobil in Romania in December 2007 which offered mobile telephony limited to3G service only at the time. In 2014, the mobile phone service was relaunched, followed by the launch of4G service on band 38 in 2015 and on band 1 in 2018.
After winning a mobile operator license in 2014 and numerous delays, the company launched mobile services in Hungary in 2019.
In Spain, due to the large number of Romanian residents,MVNO mobile telephony services were launched throughMovistar in 2008. Initially, the company attracted Romanians because it offered cheap calls with Romanian networks. Vodafone Spain reacted after 1 year when it started losing customers by offering free calls with Vodafone Romania. This was followed by offers for Latin Americans.Then the company started offering internet at a low price, attracting Spanish customers. Digi became the second MVNO operator by number of customers.
Following the model in Spain, in 2010 Digi Mobil was launched as MVNO in Italy throughTIM, but it was not as successful despite the fact that in Italy is a larger number of Romanians. Vodafone Italia began to offer free calls with Vodafone Romania and fixed networks before the launch of Digi Mobil.
The company offers all channels in one package except premium channels.
In July 2009, Digi launched theDigi Sport channels in Romania and Hungary. Then followed the Digi Sport channels in Slovakia and the Czech Republic in August 2010, which have been operated separately since 2013 following the takeover of Digi Slovakia by Slovak Telekom.
In the summer of 2010, it acquired 50% of Music Channel, which launched Hit Music Channel in January 2012. The company launched a generalist channel in December 2010, but due to the low audience it was closed. Thepremium movie channel Digi Film (now Film Now) was launched on 1 February 2011. In 2011, Digi acquired the UTV TV music channel.
Digi24 TV news channel was launched on 1 March 2012. Following disagreements withDiscovery, the company launched 3 thematic channels in October 2012: Digi World, Digi Life and Digi Animal World. On 10 December 2018, Digi 4K was launched.
In April 2015, Digi launched the energy supply service. The company had the most subscribers on the competitive market from the companies that do not have the distribution infrastructure in 2017. In 2019, it increased tariffs by 30% due to a tax added by the government and then by 20%. The company announced that it is gradually giving up the supply service due to the unusual volatility of the electricity price.[17]
RCS & RDS introduced the Digi TV brand for satellite television services in December 2004 in Romania and in 2006 in Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Croatia and Serbia. In 2006 the company unified under the Digi brand the cable television, internet and telephony services in Hungary, followed by Slovakia in June 2007. In Romania all the services rebranded Digi in 2009 but it is used together with the old RCS & RDS brand.[18]
The following is a list of Digi Mobil mobile frequencies in Romania.[19]
| MCC | MNC | Frequency | Band number | Protocol | Class | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 226 | 05 | 900 MHz | 8 | GSM (2×5Mhz) | 2G | Voice only GSM network from refarming LTE 900, used for better indoor coverage.[20] |
| 226 | 05 | 2100 MHz | 1 | UMTS/HSPA/HSPA+ (2×5Mhz ~21.6 Mbit/s/5.76 Mbit/s) | 3G | Converted to LTE / 5G NSA. |
| 226 | 05 | 2100 MHz | B1 | LTE (2×10 MHz ~ 75 Mbit/s/37.5 Mbit/s) LTE (2x15 MHz ~ 112.5 Mbit/s/37.5 Mbit/s) | 4G | FDD-LTE network launched on 6 October 2016.[21] Coexists with n1 5G NSA in big cities. |
| 226 | 05 | 900 MHz | B8 | LTE (2×3 MHz ~22.5 Mbit/s/7.5 Mbit/s) | 4G | FDD-LTE network launched in September 2019 from refarming UMTS 900.[20] In 2022 began the process of refarming the spectrum back to 2G and closing down the LTE 900 network in favor of LTE 800 |
| 226 | 05 | 2600 MHz | B38 | LTE-TDD (2×20Mhz ~300 Mbit/s) | 4G+ | TDD-LTE network launched on 1 October 2015. Operational. yet technically outdated network. |
| 226 | 05 | 2600 MHz | B41 | LTE-TDD | 4G | TDD-LTE (limited access to only 4G, no 4G+) |
| 226 | 05 | 800 MHz | B20 | LTE (2x5 MHz ~ 37.5 Mbit/s/12.5 Mbit/s) | 4G | FDD-LTE network launched on 1 January 2022 |
| 226 | 05 | 2600 MHz | B7 | LTE (2x20 MHz ~ 150 Mbit/s/50 Mbit/s) | 4G | Only in populous areas and on highways. |
| 226 | 05 | 2100 MHz | n1 | 5G NSA | 5G | 300 Mbit/s |
| 226 | 05 | 3500 MHz | n78 | 5G (1×50Mhz ~600 Mbit/s) | 5G | TDD 5G network launched on 27 June 2019[22] |
| 226 | 05 | 2600 MHz | n7 | 5G (1×45 MHz) | 5G | FDD 5G increasing network.[23] |
The majority owner of Digi Communications NV is RCS Management SA, which includes politicians among shareholders.[24] In 2016 the shareholders of this company were:[25]
RCS & RDS is one of the leading providers of mobile telephony services in Romania. Below is the evolution of their mobile telephony subscribers over the years:
| Year | Subscribers |
|---|---|
| 2018 | 3,367,000 |
| 2017 | 3,000,000 |
| 2016 | 2,000,000 |
| 2013 | 1,100,000 |
| 2010 | 1,300,000 |
| 2009 | 1,200,000 |
In 2012, the operator removed Discovery channels from the grid, motivating that it would have requested too much money for retransmission. During public discussions, Digi offered to redistribute all Discovery channels in a separate package, but Discovery refused.[27] Only Discovery and TLC returned to the grid in December 2016.
In 2012, Digi removed theAntena TV Group channels from the satellite television grid following disagreements. In 2013, the director of Digi, Ioan Bendei, was blackmailed to sign the distribution contract by the director of Antena Group under threat of being denounced for corruption of the television rights of thenational football league.The director of Antena Group was sentenced to prison for blackmail.[28]After evidence of corruption was made public by a journalist in 2013, the directors of Digi and of theProfessional Football League were convicted in January 2019.[29]Digi and Antena Group have dropped the litigations in May 2018.[30]
In Hungary, Digi was excluded from the auction for 5G licenses in 2019, motivating its decision on assumptions and facts that are supposed to happen.[clarification needed] Digi filed an appeal that was not admitted, then sued NMHH, the regulator of the telecommunications market. Meanwhile, the 5G auction has been closed.[31]
 Mobile phone companies operating in Romania | |
|---|---|
| Classical operators | |
| MVNO | |
