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Vodafone agrees to raise stake in Polkomtel to 24.4% (Poland)

  • October 31st, 2008
  • 5:24 am

Vodafone agrees to purchase an additional 4.8% stake in Polkomtel, Poland priced at EUR 176 million from Danish operator TDC. This will give rise to Vodafone’s stake from 19.6% to 24.4%. Vodafone along with the other shareholders of Polkomtel, elected to exercise its pre-emptive rights, pro rata to its existing shareholding of 19.6%, over TDC’s shareholding in Polkomtel, which arose following the change of control of TDC in February 2006. TDC, back in 2006, had agreed to sell its remaining stake in Polkomtel to other Polish shareholders. However, Vodafone disputed the sale process and the acquisition by the Polish shareholders was suspended by a court injunct2008-end. TDC said the sale of the entire Polkomtel stake will result in a one-time gain of DKK 4.0 billion in Q4.

   

UKE asks mobile operators to lower MTR by January’09 (Poland)

  • October 3rd, 2008
  • 7:57 am

Poland’s Electronic Communication Office (UKE) issues the descision on lowering the mobile termination rate (MTR), which has proved to be controversial among operators.
By January 2009, Polkomtel and PTK Centertel will have to lower the MTR rates to zł.0.22/minute and further to zł.0.17 by February 1, 2009.
“Lowering the MTR will be favorable for clients calling from fixed line telephones to mobiles as well as those calling from mobiles to mobiles. A client will pay less especially if we introduce a zero rate,” said UKE spokesperson Jacek Strzałkowski.
As the inter-operator traffic counts up to nearly 20% of revenues, lowered MTR will pull down the revenues of TPSA by about zł.800 million in 2009. In the first year, EBITDA will fall by at least zł.100 million, but in the mid-term growth of traffic will be able to compensate for this drop.
Meanwhile, the operators are complaing that UKE’s last decision to cut the MTR was back in April 2007 and was supposed to remain in force until 2010. The operators plan to analyze UKE’s decision to check if it is legally valid.

   

Vodafone shows interest in Polkomtel stake (Poland, UK)

  • September 15th, 2008
  • 11:24 am

Vodafone, has shown interest in buying the stake in Polish mobile operator Polkomtel from it’s owner PKN and PGE. Vodafone is presently in talks with TDC as it aims to acquire 4.8% of Polkomtel, which will push it’s holding further to 25%.
“We are also ready to talk to Polish shareholders, if they are willing to sell their stakes. Of course the price has to be fair,” Ian Grey, Vodafone’s head for Central and Eastern Europe, reportedly said.

   

Poland’s average ARPU to reach US$ 21.14/month (Poland)

  • September 9th, 2008
  • 12:51 pm

Four mobile network operators are currently serving Poland’s mobile market, which is one of the largest in Europe. Subscriber levels is continuing to grow despite penetration levels indicative of a mature market, while a number of Mobile Virtual Network Operators have commenced operations.

All four mobile network operators offer 3G services, with mobile broadband and content seen as the next growth market given low penetration of existing mobile data services.

OPERATORS:
Orange Polska
Plus GSM
Era
Play

The four operators, P4 (Play), Orange Poland, Polkomtel and PTC, in a joint bid, are planning to make a future mobile TV service unconditionally available to broadcasters.

TeliaSonera is in negotiations to purchase the Polish mobile phone operator Play from a private equity fund Novator. Play plans to boost the number of it’s subscribers this years to 2 million from 1.4 million and is planning to triple revenues to 800 million zlotys ($351.3 million) and expects break even by the end of the decade.

Notable highlights of Poland Mobile Forecast include:

  • The number of total subscribers in Poland will increase from 44.5 million in 2008 to 49.5 million in 2010. This implies an increase in the wireless penetration rate from 116.5% to 130.8% over this period.
  • PTC, Polkomtel and PTK Centertel will continue to have similar market shares in the range of 32% - 36% each over the forecast period of 2008 - 2010. However, all of them will see their market shares fall slightly over the next few years as a new operator, Play, increases its market share from 3.5% in 2008 to 5.2% in 2010.
  • In 2010, the average EBITDA margin will be 34.1%, and the average ARPU will be US$ 21.14 per month in Poland.

   

Four Polish wireless operator plan a joint bid for mobile TV service (Poland)

  • August 29th, 2008
  • 12:38 pm

Four Polish wireless network operator have reportedly taken a lead on the other prospective bidders in order to secure a mobile TV licence. For the following licence the tender is due in October.
The four operators, P4 (Play), Orange Poland, Polkomtel and PTC, in a joint bid, are planning to make a future mobile TV service unconditionally available to broadcasters.

   

TDC to start negotiations with Vodafone for purchase of Polkomtel shares (Denmark)

  • August 18th, 2008
  • 7:08 am

TDC has officially announced the restart of it’s negotiations with Vodafone regarding Vodafone’s possible purchase of its proportionate part of the Polkomtel shares offered for sale by TDC and the negotiations could bring end to the 2 years of litigation between the two companies.

TDC showed it’s intentions of selling it’s stake, back in February 2006 and and revealed it had agreed a deal with the four Polish shareholders for them to buy a proportionate part of its shares, representing 14.8% of the total share capital of Polkomtel, for EUR650.5 million. At the same time Vodafone was offered a proportionate share of TDC’s stake, but the British company disagreed with the price named by TDC.

Vodafone had filed a lawsuit On 10 March 2006, at the International Court of Arbitration in Vienna against TDC which was upheld Warsaw’s Court of Appeal, forbidding the sale by TDC of its stake.

   

Centernet wins wireless spectrum; set to become fifth MNO in mid-08 (Poland)

  • October 3rd, 2007
  • 1:39 pm

The Polish telecoms regulator UKE has granted wireless frequencies to Centernet, a company owned by high-profile local billionaire Roman Karkosik and his NFI Midas investment fund. Centernet beat bids from existing mobile network operators (MNOs) Polkomtel and Centertel, although no financial details of the award have yet been disclosed.

Centernet plans to launch Poland’s fifth mobile network in mid-2008 and anticipates signing up 200,000 customers within a year of launch and 2.5 million within five. It expects to secure a domestic roaming agreement with one of the current network operators, while it invests in building its own infrastructure. The company has budgeted for investment of between PLN700million – PLN1 billion (USD263 million – USD375 million) in its operations.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Polkomtel EBITDA jumps 15%

  • July 30th, 2007
  • 3:04 pm

According to Thomson Financial, Polish cellco Polkomtel has reported a 15% jump in EBITDA profit for the three months ended 30 June 2007. EBITDA rose to PLN1.36 billion (USD487 million), while its number of subscribers rose to over 13 million. Asked what the company’s net profit was, Polkomtel management board member Piotr Gawel told reporters: ‘Net profit rose at a faster pace than EBITDA. The results in the second quarter were better than those in the first.’

   

 

Polkomtel releases 2Q results

  • July 22nd, 2007
  • 6:30 pm

Polish cellco Polkomtel reports that EBITDA rose 15% in the second quarter ended 30 June 2007, to PLN1.36 billion (USD), while its number of users rose to over 13 million. Part-owned by Vodafone and TDC, Polkomtel had a net profit of PLN274.8 million, while sales equalled PLN1.83 billion.

   

 
 

ZTE signs ‘strategic deal’ with Polkomtel

  • June 15th, 2007
  • 12:29 pm

ZTE Corp has announced that it has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Polkomtel. Under the terms of the agreement, ZTE and Polkomtel will forge an ‘extensive alliance’ to promote telecom solutions and products and provide users with access to multimedia services and mobile internet applications for next-generation mobile applications, ZTE said in a statement.