Polish telco Telekomunikacja Polska (TPSA) has denied claims it is looking into selling its fixed-line business in order to focus on its mobile operations.
National newspaper Dziennik Gazeta Prawna today cited unnamed sources as saying TPSA had hired a…
Polish telco Telekomunikacja Polska (TPSA) has denied claims it is looking into selling its fixed-line business in order to focus on its mobile operations.
National newspaper Dziennik Gazeta Prawna today cited unnamed sources as saying TPSA had hired a consultancy firm to advise it on a potential spin-off of the fixed-line business.
The report said the fixed-line business, valued at up to PLN10bn (US$3.1bn), could become a wholesale operator, in which other telcos hold shares, enabling them to cut costs. According to the report, only TPSA’s mobile business would continue to operate under the Orange brand name. TPSA, in which France Telecom Orange has a 49.79% stake, is Poland’s largest telco.
However, TPSA spokesperson Wojciech Jabczynski was quick to deny the report, issuing a statement saying the company is not preparing to sell the fixed-line business and has not hired a consultant for such a transaction.
He also noted that the PLN10bn figure mentioned in the article was “quite a large sum”.
Jabczynski did state, however, that the company is looking for different ways to reduce costs by, for instance, sharing them with other operators. He pointed to its existing NetWorkS! mobile access networking sharing agreement with Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa (T-Mobile Poland) by way of example.
He also noted that it is part of the company strategy to examine opportunities “that can bring us benefits in difficult times”.
In late February, TPSA said it had “decided to take advantage of France Telecom’s funding capabilities in order to optimise its financial cost”. The Polish telco said it would conclude financing agreements with its largest shareholder, which will help it to refinance existing debt, including a €400m credit line set to mature this year and a PLN900m EIB credit line.
TPSA posted a revenue decline of 4.1% for 2012 to PLN14.15bn (US$4.37bn), while restated EBITDA stood at PLN4.85bn (US$1.5bn).
Announcing the full year results in February, CEO Maciej Witucki said the company would implement a “medium-term action plan” to protect stakeholders’ interests. He said the company will develop a new business model for an environment in which “growth is no longer a given and … capital allocation has to be prioritised carefully as cash is more scarce”.
“In order to do so, we will build a much leaner, more flexible and monetisation-driven organisation that will take us through these extremely challenging times,” he said, adding that the company is well-positioned to take advantage of growing demand for converged telecoms solutions.
