The case of the elusive E-Internets
But while the other bidders are well-established companies, E-Internets is a company with no website, no phone number, not even an email address.
"This could be the tip of the 'telecom bubble two' - where someone's getting a little too excited," says Steven J. Buckley, a co-founder and managing partner of Innova Capital, who, backed by a larger consortium, bid on the same frequencies but offered substantially less than E-Internets' gigantic winning bid. "It's a bit high to pay just for the license," he adds.
Comments from the Office for Telecommunications and Post Regulation (URTiP), which organized the tender, meanwhile, indicate that it isn't too worried about whether or not E-Internets is legit.
"A newly established company has won. I am convinced it is financially credible," URTiP president Witold Graboś told the press. "If this turns out not to be the case, then we have the possibility to take the frequencies away."
And as far as that financial credibility is concerned, Dariusz Górecki, one of two shareholders and the deputy president of E-Internets, claims a U.S. telecoms sector company will supply the company's infrastructure.
"We will aim our offer at the average man in the street and will target the 50 largest urban areas by the end of 2005 or by 2006 at the latest," said Górecki, in a statement to Puls Biznesu.
Here again, though, some have doubts as to the viability of that strategy.
"That's a fairly ambitious plan," says Buckley, pointing out that cable TV/Internet providers already hold a strong position in those markets.
Marcin Hejka, senior investments manager for Central and Eastern Europe at Intel Capital, an investment venture branch of Intel, hadn't even heard of E-Internets and its ambitious bid. And although PTC and NASK, a scientific community, also garnered some of the frequencies on offer, most are hard put to gauge E-Internets' chances for success.
But E-Internets certainly can't be counted out entirely. Indeed, the frequencies themselves have more possibilities than simply Internet access.
"It looks like broadband is likely going to be driven by Internet but also by VoIP [Voice over Internet Protocol]," says Buckley, referring to the technology allowing people to make free calls over these new broadband networks. And that, he says, "may be what E-Internets is betting on."
"This could be the tip of the 'telecom bubble two' - where someone's getting a little too excited," says Steven J. Buckley, a co-founder and managing partner of Innova Capital, who, backed by a larger consortium, bid on the same frequencies but offered substantially less than E-Internets' gigantic winning bid. "It's a bit high to pay just for the license," he adds.
Comments from the Office for Telecommunications and Post Regulation (URTiP), which organized the tender, meanwhile, indicate that it isn't too worried about whether or not E-Internets is legit.
"A newly established company has won. I am convinced it is financially credible," URTiP president Witold Graboś told the press. "If this turns out not to be the case, then we have the possibility to take the frequencies away."
And as far as that financial credibility is concerned, Dariusz Górecki, one of two shareholders and the deputy president of E-Internets, claims a U.S. telecoms sector company will supply the company's infrastructure.
"We will aim our offer at the average man in the street and will target the 50 largest urban areas by the end of 2005 or by 2006 at the latest," said Górecki, in a statement to Puls Biznesu.
Here again, though, some have doubts as to the viability of that strategy.
"That's a fairly ambitious plan," says Buckley, pointing out that cable TV/Internet providers already hold a strong position in those markets.
Marcin Hejka, senior investments manager for Central and Eastern Europe at Intel Capital, an investment venture branch of Intel, hadn't even heard of E-Internets and its ambitious bid. And although PTC and NASK, a scientific community, also garnered some of the frequencies on offer, most are hard put to gauge E-Internets' chances for success.
But E-Internets certainly can't be counted out entirely. Indeed, the frequencies themselves have more possibilities than simply Internet access.
"It looks like broadband is likely going to be driven by Internet but also by VoIP [Voice over Internet Protocol]," says Buckley, referring to the technology allowing people to make free calls over these new broadband networks. And that, he says, "may be what E-Internets is betting on."
