Page 30 - BNE_magazine_06_2020 Growers

30 I Companies & Markets bne June 2020
North Macedonia ranks 2nd in Europe for quality of mobile services finds Germany’s Connect
bne IntelliNews
North Macedonia unexpectedly took second place in terms of quality of mobile telecommunications services in Europe, just behind the Netherlands, in a survey by German telecoms magazine Connect.
The data showed that Macedonians are extremely satisfied with the standard of telecommunication services from the local operators and at the same time enjoy some of the highest quality services in Europe.
The list is based on data analysis from each country, collected in the period from October 2019 to March 2020. Connect.de ranked the quality of mobile services of 94 providers from 28 countries, taking into account network quality, data transfer speed and latency, Connect reported last week
Out of a total 1,000 points, North Macedonia received 913 points, just one less than the Netherlands, which ranks first.
Among the Balkan countries, Croatia ranks 12th with 872 points, while Serbia is 13th with 871 points.
Revolut launches bank in Lithuania
bne IntelliNews
The UK-based Revolut has launched a regular banking service in Lithuania, the fintech company said on May 4.
The announcement means that some 300,000 Lithuanian customers of Revolut can now keep their savings in standard bank accounts that will be deposit-protected by Lithuania,
a Eurozone member state.
So far, Revolut users could only use the company app for money transfers and related financial services.
Revolut, launched in 2015 in London by Russian-born entrepreneurs Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko, started
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Bulgaria took the 17th place with 831 points and Romania is 24th (744 points).
Telia Sweden has been declared as the best mobile operator while A1 Austria which has a unit in North Macedonia is ranked fifth.
by offering prepaid card services for foreign currency payments. After it obtained banking licenses across Europe
in 2018, the company began rolling out banking services such as current accounts, loans and overdrafts.
The company has 25 offices and over 10mn customers globally. Earlier this year, Revolut said it would shift the management of its payment operations from the UK capital to Ireland and Lithuania because of Brexit, taking advantage of its Lithuanian banking licence, obtained in 2018.
The Lithuanian capital has been establishing itself as a regional fintech hub for the last few years.