Netia teams up with Stoen for Warsaw telecom service
Telecom operator Netia Holdings is teaming up with Warsaw energy distributor Stoleczny Zaklad Energetyczny (Stoen) in anticipation of winning a license to provide a fixed-line telephone service in Warsaw.
The deal will see Netia use Stoen's fiber-optic telecom network and power distribution infrastructure to get a jump start on rolling out a network in the capital.
"This way it's much faster to set up (Netia's) own telecom network," said Pawel Zach, an analyst at Citibank (Poland). "And it would help it to expand long-distance services."
Zach added that the deal will also likely mean that Netia pays less for interconnecting with former monopolist Telekomunikacja Polska (TPSA) in the Warsaw area.
Incremental to Netia's plans are Stoen's 140-kilometer-long network of fiber-optic and 200 kilometers of copper cable, which the energy distributor uses for data transmission between its headquarters and local branches in the area. The company operates the largest network in the Warsaw region, giving Netia a competitive edge in targeting homes and businesses around the capital, analysts said.
Netia is one of two companies bidding for the Warsaw license, the others being energy grid Polskie Sieci Energetyczne (PSE) and KGHM Polska Miedz-owned Telefonia Lokalna. But analysts said that Netia is in the best position to win the concession.
"They are closer to winning the license," said Piotr Wozniak, an analyst at CDM Pekao Securities. "They know the Warsaw market very well and they are technically prepared to win (it)."
He said that the Stoen deal heightens Netia's credibility as the right choice for the license, while Telefonia Lokalna would probably have to build a network from scratch, potentially delaying its service. Furthermore, the Communications Ministry's aim of creating a competitive environment on the capital's telecom market has a greater chance of being realized if it chooses Netia, Wozniak said. At present two companies operate fixed-line operations in the capital: TPSA and Elektrim-owned firm El-Net, which won the first concession for Warsaw last year.
Jolanta Ciesielska, Netia spokeswoman, would not say how much Netia will pay Stoen for use of the energy company's network. She said the company would disclose more information once the license is awarded.
It is not the first time the two companies have cooperated, said Rafal Kosecki, public relations manager at Netia's PR firm Media Group. Netia and Stoen had intended to work together on the Warsaw license, but abandoned the plans when El-Net won the concession.
The most recent teaming of the two companies is their successful joint bid for a domestic long-distance license. A consortium called Netia 1, which includes Netia, Stoen, BRE Bank, Polska Kasa Oszczednosci Bank Panstwowy (PKO BP) and Netia's strategic Swedish partner Telia, won one of three domestic long-distance licenses. To this end, Netia is now building telephone exchanges in Warsaw, Katowice and Poznan to collect long-distance traffic in these cities and send them to the rest of the country. The exchanges will be up and running July 1, when the license comes into effect, Ciesielska said. "This is just the beginning of our long-distance activity," she said.
Set up in 1996 by RP Telekom and Telia, Netia has so far pursued a strategy of providing local telecom services in cities across Poland. As a fixed-line operator, it ranks second only to TPSA. Netia currently boasts 250,000 subscribers and covers the cities of Krakow, Poznan, Gdansk and Katowice, among other areas.
