Telecoms form the backbone of the digital world

Fifteen years ago, in September, one of Bulgaria's largest telecoms, Vivacom, was born. There are three key stages that the company outlines as it takes stock of how it has reached its current stage of development and how it has become an innovator and driver of change across the entire industry in Bulgaria. This was discussed by Vivacom CEO Nikolay Andreev during the second discussion – INvestments in INnovations: The New Wave – at the Economic.bg ALL IN business forum.

Key to this process is the drive to introduce innovations so that the company can grow – and "this cannot happen without investment," says Andreev.

It can't be done without investment," he says emphatically, adding that it also can't be done without people. "You can't achieve what we have achieved without people."

The main motivator for the telecom is the customer, whose needs and lives are constantly changing.

You have a choice to respond to new needs or remain somewhere in history."

Today, Vivacom is a large company that looks boldly to the future. In the eyes of its CEO, this is linked to digital solutions.

Telecoms will be the backbone of the digital world we will live in one day," he believes.

Andreev gave examples of projects on which the telecom is working with municipalities and companies – through smart cities, waste collection management, traffic, environmental cleanliness control, cybersecurity, robots, and IoT.

Telecommunications companies are moving towards providing the environment for digital development, says the manager.

Although the future lies in digitalisation and telecoms provide all the possible payment methods that customers are looking for, cash is still significant. "44% of our payments are made in stores and cash aggregators," Andreev comments, adding that this is a challenge and a huge expense.

The change is not only about offering new methods; cash payments are the way income is paid in Bulgaria."

Translated with DeepL.