Szeptel sets date for internet portal launch
Szeptel, the small private fixed-line telephone operator based in Szepietowo in northeastern Poland, will have its internet portal (www.e.pl) up and running by the end of March, the company's general manager, Andrzej Binkowski, said last week.
Szeptel is following the likes of bigger telecom firms such as Elektrim and Netia, which have also made known their intentions to start internet projects. Szeptel announced its internet plans three weeks ago. At the moment, the portal is still under construction.
Binkowski didn't elaborate on project details, but said the portal would be "full of content," including information about the stock market, government offices and agencies, and events in cities such as Warsaw, Krakow and Gdansk. He said the portal's main target group will be the company's existing corporate clients, in keeping with Szeptel's goal of providing business-to-business e-commerce services. At first, the site will sell books, compact discs and digital video discs (DVDs), Binkowski said, and later move into theater and movie tickets.
One analyst said Szeptel's plans may just be an "announcement" capitalizing on internet frenzy and without any real substance. "Any company that's got anything to do with IT and the internet over the past three months in Poland has also been involved in portals to raise their profiles," said Tomasz Berent, an IT and internet analyst at Paribas in London. He added that Szeptel's status as a regional company prompted it to get into the internet game so it could keep pace with its peers, most of which claim to be hatching some sort of internet strategy.
"Szeptel is jumping on the bandwagon," said Berent. "The company got (share price) returns of 300% and now has to keep up the momentum." He pointed out that until February, Szeptel was a small company traded on the secondary market. Since Jan. 7, Szeptel's share price has rocketed 341%, from zl. 12.90 on Jan.7 to zl. 44 on March 23.
Despite skepticism that its internet intentions are real, Szeptel has employed resources to build an internet site. The company put together a team of 23 people to create the site, Binkowski said, and will expand that number if necessary.
The company will give its existing telecom customers full access to the portal, but will not exclude non-customers. "If you're not a Szeptel customer, your access won't be that wide, and you will not be able to access all information," Binkowski said. "It's a kind of bonus for our customers." He added that non-customers would have access to the portal's e-commerce services, but did not provide details about the restricted access.
Binkowski declined to disclose the cost of the portal project, but said it was not that costly and the company paid for the development out of its own capital resources. However, he stressed that the portal is only one way in which the company intends to provide its customers with all-inclusive telecom and internet services. "It is just one element of our strategy to fully integrate our telecommunications services," he said. "Our strategy is to expand services around Poland in all areas."
He compared the firm's strategy to that of America Online (AOL), in that Szeptel will also offer data transmission service, a portal and internet content. Binkowski said he could not comment on how much money the company hopes to make from the internet venture.
