Netia to dispose of stake in P4?

"We received a very interesting declaration of interest regarding the purchase of our shares in P4," said Mirosław Godlewski, president of Netia. The firm believes it will collect EUR 79.5 million, that is more than it pledged to invest in P4, and will not lose benefits related to cooperation with the mobile phone operator. This will enable it to obtain capital for developing basic activities and higher transparency of its strategy. "Some investors noted that possessing a minority stake in P4 is a financial rather than an operational investment," said the president of Netia, adding that the mobile business of Play and Netia operations related to developing broadband Internet access are growing rapidly, thus the firm wants to focus on one segment. "Broadband Internet, on which Netia is focusing, might become an opportunity for the company. Despite that prices are dropping, the number of users is growing rapidly," said Paweł Olszynka, analyst with PMR. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B5; Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 13; Parkiet, p. 1-3) M.M.