French telecommunications equipment supplier Alcatel-Lucent aims to increase its business in Romania by pushing local sales, according to Raoul Ros, who returned earlier this year as general manager of Alcatel Lucent Romania.

“Romania is an important site for Alcatel-Lucent worldwide. Our people here work on the newest technology used by our international clients,” said Raoul Ros in a meeting with the press.

The French group has some 1,600 employees in Romania, most of which work in the company’s center in Timisoara, western Romania. The center also has a strong research & development (R&D) department, which hires some 600 engineers.

The company has recruited some 180 engineers this year, 100 of which were newly graduates. It plans to recruit between 100 and 200 people next year as well.

“I’m not happy that despite all these investments in Romania we are more successful abroad. We want to do more business in Romania,” Ros said.

He plans to address this by increasing the business Alcatel-Lucent has with telecom service providers and by going after enterprise clients as well. Ros said that he would also like to have more business with state-owned entities, such as Romania’s railways company CFR, which manages the country’s railway infrastructure, and with the Special Transmissions Service (STS).

The group will also try to increase its business with private companies that rely on large telecommunications networks, such as banks and automotive manufacturers.

Alcatel-Lucent Romania had sales of close to EUR 81 million and a net profit of EUR 4.5 million, in 2014. Most of the company’s turnover came from know-how and service exports and the local sales had a relatively low contribution to that, although the company didn’t disclose the percentages.

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editor@romania-insider.com