TP acquires remaining orange segments

Telekomunikacja Polska (TP), Poland's leading telecommunications company, has agreed with its parent company, France Telecom, to buy up the French operator's 34-percent stake in TP's mobile arm, Centertel. TP bid a total of zł.4.88 billion for the stake.

"Our offer was given final approval by the board of directors of France Telecom," TP chief executive Marek Jozefiak said in a conference call.

TP wants to take over all of Centertel (in which it had already owned the remaining 66 percent of shares) as part of its strategy to create an integrated operator. In the future, the giant may be forced to depend on Centertel, Poland's second-largest mobile operator, for more and more of its revenue, if its share of the fixed-line market continues to shrink.

Last month, Centertel rebranded its services from the Polish Idea name to France Telecom's global Orange brand. France Telecom owns 47.5 percent of TP, and last week revised downward its sales growth forecast for the year, blaming  a sharp decline in its Polish fixed-line services. As a result France Telecom said it would reshuffle its assets in Poland. (Reuters)