It’s a case of ‘never never-land’ writ large. A handful of niche specialisms in the technology sector and an economy being built on inter-EU economic off-shoring of services and little else do not bode well for Eastern Europe in the longer term.

In the medium term, the potential for growth in mobile services will be sufficient to attract outside investors but the region faces stalled economic growth ahead. The mentality instilled by decades of state planning is deeply embedded in the mindsets of manufacturers and operators. Corruption is rife and western investors play to that.

The result is a basket case, albeit one which rather foolish companies from the west will stick their mitts into. Expect many of those fingers to get burned, badly.

Rights, wrongs and Richter scales
Techtonix scale/short term: 6/10. Outside investors circle, chasing growth potential in fixed and mobile services.
Techtonix scale/mid term: 6/10. Ongoing land grab for operating assets, regional manufacturing outlets for re-export to EU.
Techtonix scale/long term: 4/10. Saturation point has been reached, albeit in record time.
Jim Chalmers

Tomorrow: is Australasia the new California? No; not unless you count the number of resident self-obsessed idiots.