Cyfrowy Polsat commences LTE trial (Poland)
Cyfrowy Polsat, Polish satellite DTH provider, has commenced a consumer trial of Long Term Evolution (LTE) services using the 4G network being launched by Mobyland and CenterNet.
All 2,000 participants in the trial, which will last until the end of June, will be allowed 100GB of free data per month, 50% of which may be taken between the hours of 8am and midnight.
Cyfrowy Polsat is also offering trialists a USB modem from IPWireless which is capable of supporting download/upload speeds of up to 73Mbps/25Mbps.
According to the company, it is working with Huawei with a view to raising speeds even further, to 100Mbps/50Mbps. If the trial is deemed a success, it is reported in the Polish press that Cyfrowy Polsat is planning a commercial launch for July.
SkyCash expands top-ups for Cyfrowy Polsat, Diallo, GaduAir (Poland)
The Polish branch of the SkyCash payments system has expanded its distribution of prepaid top-ups to include Cyfrowy Polsat, GaduAir and Diallo.
Top-ups worth US$1.73 to $173 are offered for users of Cyfrowy Polsat and US$1.73 to $103.85 for users of Diallo. Prepaid subscribers of GaduAir can choose from top-ups of US$3.46 toUS$34.61.
Poland’s Mobile Market expects growth with new MNOs
According to a new report from Pyramid Research, LTE is expected to gain 11% of total subscriptions in 2015, while 3G will make up 69% of subscriptions in 2015, boosted by mobile player investment into HSPA+ networks.
Pyramid expects that the Polish market to grow at a CAGR of 1.7% in local currency terms in the forecast period, reaching US$14.7 billion by 2015, making it the second largest in Central and Eastern Europe, after Russia.
According to Sylwia Boguszewska, Analyst for Pyramid, this growth is driven by the proliferation of fixed broadband and related services, stemming from more intense competition, as well as mobile data, bundled with smartphones and computing devices.
As per Boguszewska, the Polish mobile market is almost evenly divided between the three largest MNOs – PTC, Orange, and Polkomtel. In 2009, two MNOs owned by Aero 2, CenterNet, and Mobyland entered the market. In September 2010, these latest entrants announced the launch of a LTE network, which is set to have a commercial debut towards year-end 2010. Aero 2 is also in possession of a LTE license, and a tender for more LTE spectrum is set to take place in 2011.
Pyramid expects that the mobile arm of the incumbent (Orange) will recover its leadership position. The other operators (Aero 2, Mobyland, and CenterNet) will hold a combined market share of 4% by the end of the forecast period, their competitive advantage being their first mover strategy in the LTE space.
Although CenterNet and Mobyland will provide wholesale services, there are already several players, including the leading DTH operator Cyfrowy Polsat, that are interested in reselling 4G Internet services.
Poland’s leading satellite TV provider tunes into mobile with Nokia Siemens Networks (Poland)
Under a five-year contract, Nokia Siemens Networks has supplied a complete MVNO platform, comprising packet core equipment, applications and network management tools as well as a broad range of services within the so-called Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) arrangement, to allow Cyfrowy Polsat to offer new consumer services, known as Rodzinna Telefonia Komorkowa (Family Cellular Telephony), in an environment where fast implementation and quality are critical.
Currently, the system is ready to serve some 200,000 end-users of the new service and the agreement provides for possible extensions of the telecommunications platform functionality to adapt it to a growing number of subscribers of Family Cellular Telephony.
Like in our basic television business, we wanted to be able to offer our end users state-of-the-art mobile services with a lot of flexibility and freedom in setting up their subscriptions and controlling their accounts. It was possible to achieve these goals with Nokia Siemens Networks’ advanced solution, which allows us to differentiate from other MVNOs and serve our customers best,†said Dominik Libicki, the President of the Board of Cyfrowy Polsat.
â€Mobile users are becoming ever more sophisticated and it is critical that operators are able to meet that challenge with a flexible and high quality platform, as Cyfrowy Polsat is doing,†said Tomasz Gierczak of Nokia Siemens Networks, who is in charge of business with Poland’s alternative carriers. This launch marks the first implementation of our complete leading-edge MVNO solution in Poland and one of the first in Europe, and we are looking forward to a successful partnership with Cyfrowy Polsat.â€
The Nokia Siemens Networks BOT solution allows for a faster implementation and guarantees quality services from the first day of commercial operation. It brings together a variety of services, including consulting and network planning, network implementation, project management and system maintenance through to the commercial launch of the mobile phone services and it provides for a smooth handover of the operations and maintenance once these competences are developed within the operator’s organization.
Cyfrowy Polsat’s telecommunications infrastructure not only does take advantage of Nokia Siemens Networks’ cost-efficient mobile softswitching solution and advanced packet core, but also it envisions a future implementation of the central database equipment (Home Location Register) as well as Value Added Services’ platforms (e.g. multimedia and messaging platforms). The complete solution is capable of communicating flawlessly with the host network of Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa, the operator of ERA, which makes it possible for Cyfrowy Polsat offer its mobile services.
About Cyfrowy Polsat
Cyfrowy Polsat (www.cyfrowypolsat.pl) is the largest, per subscriber number, paid DTH satellite platform in Poland. As at the end of September 2008 Cyfrowy Polsat had a total of 2.4m subscribers, i.e. about 42% more than in the comparable period of 2007.
Cyfrowy Polsat enables its subscribers reception of 72 Polish language channels, including film, sports, music, entertainment, news, education, and children’s channels. In order to meet expectations n order to meet the needs of subscribers it broadcast High Definition TV. Viewers currently have access to four HD channels – Polsat Sport HD, HBO HD, Eurosport HD and MTVNHD.
Cyfrowy Polsat is the first satellite digital TV provider who offered a recording and pausing enabled set top box DVR. In November 2007 it launched its own production of set top boxes launching a modern digital set top box with exceptionally small size the Mini. Using a strong brand and large subscriber base, on 8 September 2008 the platform began providing telecommunication services as MVNO.
Since 6 May 2008 the company has been listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Polaris Finance is the largest shareholder of Cyfrowy Polsat, which holds 65.23% of shares. The Company has significantly improved its financial results. In Q3 2008 consolidated revenues were PLN 290.6m, or 46.3% more compared to corresponding period of last year. The EBITDA (operating profit increased by depreciation) increased in the period by 72.9% to PLN 109m, and the net profit totaled PLN 84.2m, or about 85.8% more than in previous year.
About Nokia Siemens Networks
Nokia Siemens Networks is a leading global enabler of communications services. The company provides a complete, well-balanced product portfolio of mobile and fixed network infrastructure solutions and addresses the growing demand for services with 20,000 service professionals worldwide. Nokia Siemens Networks is one of the largest telecommunications infrastructure companies with operations in 150 countries. The company is headquartered in Espoo, Finland.
www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com
About Wireless Federation
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