58 books
—
2 voters
Telecommunications
“
The former banker helped us with the financial plans, figuring out how much we could afford to bid in the auction. We concluded that we could certainly bid USD 45 million for a 20-year license in Hungary. Swedish Telecom was very confident, their CEO had said in radio interviews that he thought that 1 in 4 people would have a mobile phone by the year 2000. This was overly optimistic according to the other consortium partners. They were more conservative and we had difficulty persuading them to p
...more
”
― Your phone, my life: Or, how did that phone land in your hand?
― Your phone, my life: Or, how did that phone land in your hand?
“
One point seemed to be very dear to the proud Minister; the company name had to be UMC, Ukrainian Mobile Communications. We agreed, understanding that this project was his baby and that he, too, was taking an enormous risk in the very uncertain and rapidly changing political environment. This was the still the USSR, where for obvious reasons, no normal citizen was allowed to have a phone. The waiting list was about 17 years for Communist Party members with a clear need. Fixed line penetration st
...more
”
― Your phone, my life: Or, how did that phone land in your hand?
― Your phone, my life: Or, how did that phone land in your hand?
