Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) has given permission to mobile operators PTC and PTK Centertel to set up a network partnership.
Last December, the two companies signed a letter of intent to establish a 50-50 joint venture…
Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) has given permission to mobile operators PTC and PTK Centertel to set up a network partnership.
Last December, the two companies signed a letter of intent to establish a 50-50 joint venture with a view to sharing mobile network infrastructure and radio frequencies.
PTK Centertel said: “Today’s positive decision of UOKiK means that PTC and PTK Centertel may start binding negotiations in order to define detailed conditions of their cooperation and foundation of the company, as well as principles of its functioning. The scope of cooperation of PTC and PTK Centertel is limited to selected technical issues and does not extend to other areas of their activity in the telecommunications market.”
In last year’s announcement, TP Group said the new entity would manage, operate and maintain – but not own – parts of both companies’ respective 900, 1800 and 2100 MHz networks and frequencies possibly awarded to them in the future.
Poland is expected to launch the sale of LTE frequencies this year.
The operators aim to seal the partnership by the end of H1 with commercial launch and the beginning of sharing networks planned for 2012.
PTK Centertel, which trades under the Orange brand, is the mobile unit of France Telecom-controlled incumbent TPSA. PTC, which trades under the Era brand, is owned by Deutsche Telekom. The French and German incumbents last year combined their mobile operations in the UK to create Everything Everywhere.
