Penkių kontinentų komunikacijų centras, the Vilnius-based Penki fiber optic network manager, plans to invest over €2m in upgrading the network and its equipment.

According to company’s manager Romas Rimgaila, last year about €1m was invested, and this year, it is planned to invest another €1m in the fiber-optic network development, which makes the total amount of investments more than €2m.

"We try not to fall behind; technologies are improving constantly and, if we wish to remain competitive, we should constantly invest in our equipment upgrading, and react promptly to technological progress as well as the business environment, our customers’ behavior and expectations. We know our customers: they are modern young people, they keep up with the latest trends – so we should be the same", Mr. Rimgaila says.

According to Rimgaila, investments will make the fastest (up to 1 Gbps) Internet connection available to all Penki customers.

"We want to tell all our current and future customers the good news: from now on we can provide 1 Gbps Internet speed – and with this regard we advise them to switch from slow (100 or 300 Mbps) plans to much faster ones, taking advantage of fiber optic Internet", Romas Rimgaila says.

This year Penkių kontinentų komunikacijos centras plans further development of its fiber optic network, covering over 10 thousand apartment buildings in Lithuania’s capital Vilnius. About €0.5m will be allocated to modernize IT equipment, cloud and smart TV services. As Mr. Rimgaila points out, the company's own funds only are invested.

"We are one of the few Lithuanian companies investing their own funds in projects without bank loans, or additional investors. We have been doing so for almost two decades. This indicates our financial stability as well as our confidence in the future", Mr. Rimgaila added.

This February, the company began rebranding its Skynet fiber optic network to Penki. In 1998, JSC Penkių kontinentų komunikacijų centras was the first in Lithuania to provide customers of the then Skynet network with the maximum Internet connection speed at that time. In 2008, the speed reached 100 Mbps, in 2012 – 1 Gbps, and in November 2017, for the first time in the country, the Internet speed at the Vilnius Social Sciences College reached 10 Gbps. Currently Penki offers high-speed Internet and smart TV services to its customers in Vilnius. The company employs about 80 people.

Penkių kontinentų komunikacijų centras is part of the Penki Kontinentai group. Founded in 1992, the group works in the banking technologies sector; develops and implements innovative payment solutions, fiber optic Internet and smart TV, and development projects. The group’s products and services are well known and used in more than 80 world countries.