National telecom plan irks foreign partners

The Polish Power Grid (PSE), one of the state-owned shareholders of Polkomtel, is pressing ahead with its plans to include the country's third-largest mobile operator in the formation of a new national telecom company despite lack of support for the project from the cellular operator's foreign investors, a PSE representative said last week. "We are now in the course of preparing the strategy for this new venture," said Regina Wagnerowska, PSE's spokeswoman, although she added that it was still too early to give more information about the project. "There are some analyses done, and we are working on it." PSE announced plans last month for the new telecom, which would include various telecom holdings and serve as a competitor to national telecom Telekomunikacja Polska (TPSA). Treasury Minister Wiesław Kaczmarek recently said he supported the national telecom alternative company, called National Telecommunications Group (KGT). Kaczmarek also said the new firm could center on Tel-Energo, PSE's telecom arm, and include a mobile operator. PSE holds stakes in Polkomtel (16.05%), fixed-line operator Niezależny Operator Miźdzystrefowy (NOM) (50%) and Tel-Energo (75%), which operates a national fiber-optic network.

When asked if PSE was working on the strategy with Polkomtel's other state-controlled shareholders, Wagnerowska said it was "PSE or PSE and someone else." Polkomtel is also owned by two other state-controlled firms - mining company KGHM Polska Miedź (19.6%) and oil concern Polski Koncern Naftowy Orlen (PKN Orlen) (19.6%) - and two foreign shareholders British telecom Vodafone (19.6%) and Danish telecom Tele Danmark (19.6%). News of Polkomtel's possible inclusion in KGT prompted Vodafone and Tele Danmark to issue a statement: "We are quite surprised that our Polish partners apparently intend to act against the agreements we have. However, we expect we will be able to find a solution that will benefit all shareholders in the way we have done in the past as we've done business together in Polkomtel." When asked what the specific agreements were, spokesmen for the two companies said the shareholders' agreements stated that Polkomtel should be a mobile company and included a number of other confidential issues. "We would not support it because Polkomtel is a focused mobile company and it's our intention to have it remain that way," said Hanne Hoffman of Tele Danmark's investor relations department. Hoffman and a Vodafone spokesman said their firms had not discussed the matter with Polkomtel's other shareholders. Leszek Kamiński, Polkomtel's spokesman, said he was "not aware of any plans to change the structure of Polkomtel" and that the Treasury Ministry had put forth the idea for the new telecom company to the press.

The Treasury Ministry, however, said it was not directly involved in the project. "Such an idea should come from the companies themselves, then the Treasury Ministry will have (something) to say about the issue," said Agnieszka Dłuska of the ministry's press office. "We are not preparing the project." Ryszard Bańkowicz, Tel-Energo's director of public relations, said his firm was holding some discussions with NOM for closer business ties, but he would not indicate if Tel-Energo had talked with Polkomtel's shareholders about the creation of KGT. Tel-Energo owns 15% of NOM. Since January, the same president has run both companies. Polkomtel's other state-controlled shareholders - PKN Orlen and KGHM - declined to comment on the matter. "We still have our shares in Polkomtel and some decisions must be based on all the shareholders," said an employee in PKN Orlen's investor relations department, who would not comment on the statement issued by Vodafone and Tele Danmark. Wojciech Marciniak, KGHM's investor relations director, declined to say if his firm supported the project, but added, "we are not interested in weakening Polkomtel, but rather strengthening it." Earlier this month, KGHM, supported by PSE and PKN Orlen, tried to put an additional company representative on Polkomtel's management board but the motion was rejected.