Mobile and fixed-line telephony
We provide mobile telephony services mainly through our subsidiary Polkomtel, Plus network operator. Polkomtel is one of the leading Polish mobile telecommunications network operators. As at December 31, 2022 we provided ca. 8.8 million mobile telephony services to B2C customers in both the contract and prepaid model.
We offer a comprehensive array of mobile telecommunications services under the established umbrella brand ‘Plus’ and our additional brand ‘Plush,’ as well as under the brands belonging to Premium Mobile and Netia. Our offer includes retail services, comprising contract and prepaid voice services, as well as data transmission services encompassing basic mobile broadband services, MMS, value added services such as entertainment, information and comprehensive convergent telecommunications services for large businesses. Additionally, our mobile telephony offer is complemented with a wide portfolio of handsets and smartphones, including devices which support LTE, LTE Advanced and 5G technologies. Our retail mobile telephony offering is addressed to individual and business customers, including major corporate accounts, small and medium-sized enterprises, and the SOHO (Small Office/Home Office) segment.
We provide fixed-line telecommunications services under the ‘Netia’ and ‘Plus’ brands based mainly on the landline infrastructure of our subsidiary Netia. The dedicated retail offering of fixed-line telephony includes both business customers, including institutions, medium and large enterprises and small companies, as well as individual customers.
Mobile broadband Internet
In 2011, we were the first commercial service provider in Poland to launch an LTE-based broadband Internet access service. At present, our LTE Internet and HSPA/HSPA+ Internet cover practically the entire population of Poland. Since 2016 we have been offering our customers services in the LTE Advanced technology.
In May 2020, we launched the first commercial 5G network in Poland using the spectrum from the 2.6 GHz TDD frequency band. In March 2023 the Plus’s 5G network covered more than 20 million inhabitants of Poland in almost 1000 locations with the total number of 5G base stations reaching nearly 3,500. Thanks to that already more than half of the inhabitants of Poland live within the coverage of our 5G network.
We provide a comprehensive array of mobile broadband Internet access services to both individual and business customers under the brands: ‘Plus,’ ‘Premium Mobile’ and ‘Netia.’ We offer mobile broadband Internet in both the contract and the prepaid model. Moreover, thanks to our LTE Internet access service combined with the set Home LTE Internet we can offer customers a product based on wireless technology that constitutes a substitute for fixed-line Internet. Additionally, pursuant to the provisions of the concession related to the purchase of the 2600 MHz TDD band, we provide free of charge Internet access services, however with limited parameters (BDI offer).
Our offering is complemented by a portfolio of dedicated devices (modems, routers, tablets, laptops, Home LTE Internet sets, etc.), that support LTE, LTE Advanced and 5G technologies. Such a wide offering allows us to address the needs of customers who are interested in using mobile broadband Internet for its mobility as well as those customers who want to substitute fixed-line Internet access at home or in the office.
Fixed-line broadband Internet
Through our subsidiaries Netia and Polkomtel we provide fixed-line broadband Internet services, among others in fiber optic technologies. Fixed-line services are being rendered via own access networks with approximately 3.2 million homes passed. Moreover, we offer fixed-line Internet services based on wholesale access to networks of Orange Polska, Nexera, Fiberhost and Tauron. In total, there are currently ca. 6.1 million homes passed within the reach of our fixed broadband Internet access services offered over both our own network and access to fiber optic networks of other operators.
Internet services to individual customers are sold mainly in bundles with TV and voice services, including a mobile offering. The offer is supplemented by a number of value added services which support ARPU levels and the loyalty of our customers.
Broadband Internet access services for business customers are offered in fiber optic, Ethernet, xDSL and HFC technologies. They are part of a wide range of services, including traditional fixed-line telephony solutions (analogue and ISDN access), the latest IP telephony services with hosted PABX (Next Generation Network – NGN technology), Unified Communications services, video communications (video conference services in HD quality), wholesale messaging, lease of digital lines, VPN and Ethernet networks, and data center services which are addressed to companies using Internet in business solutions, running portals and news services.
Other
Wholesale business
As part of our wholesale business we provide services to other telecommunication operators. These services include voice network interconnection, texting (SMS) and MMS traffic routing, international roaming, services to MVNOs, shared access to network assets and lease of network infrastructure.
Network interconnection
Our telecommunications infrastructure used in interconnection cooperation enables us to effectively manage telecommunications traffic routing from/to Polkomtel’s customers to/from all operators domestically and abroad.
Shared access to network assets and lease of telecommunications infrastructure
As a consequence of significant capital expenditures and acquisitions carried out in the past, our Group has an extensive and modern telecommunications infrastructure, which allows us to handle constantly increasing usage of telecommunications products and services. In order to optimize costs of maintenance of our infrastructure, we take in parallel steps to share access to network assets and lease components of our network infrastructure from and/or to other telecommunications providers on the Polish market as reflected by the completion of the sale of a part of our mobile infrastructure to Cellnex Group in July 2021. In parallel, within the Group we execute projects which utilize telecommunications infrastructure owned by our entities, especially in the area of backbone and transport networks and IT infrastructure, thus gaining synergies by the replacement, where it is economically justified, of the infrastructure leased from the third parties with assets possessed by the Group companies.
International roaming
Within our wholesale business we provide international roaming services to foreign mobile operators that allow customers of foreign mobile telecommunications network operators to use mobile telecommunications services (voice calls, texting and multimedia messages (SMSs and MMSs) and data transmission) when logged to our network and outside their home network. We also enter into international roaming wholesale agreements in order to provide, both to our own customers and the customers of MVNOs’ partners operating on our network, international roaming services in the networks of our roaming partners.
Virtual operators (MVNOs)
We provide operators present in Poland with wholesale access to our mobile telecommunications network based on different models of technical and business cooperation.
Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) are operators who provide mobile telephony and data transmission services, as well as fixed-lined telephony services based on Polkomtel’s network in a model in which Polkomtel provides access to its mobile network, exchange of interconnection traffic to/from MVNOs’ customers and other possible forms of wholesale support to operations of MVNOs. As a rule, this type of cooperation is used by operators who do not own complete technical infrastructure required to provide telecommunications services (including frequency allocations). Such cooperation allows operators to take advantage of each party’s strengths: Polkomtel’s high quality nationwide network and its support in servicing telecommunications aspects of MVNO operations and dedicated offerings, marketing and sales under own brand of the MVNO wholesale partners.
As part of the cooperation with MVNOs, we provide wholesale services including voice calls, text messaging (SMS) and data transmission (including MMS services), premium rate services, value-added services, international roaming, services provided to specific governmental authorities and agencies, hosting services on our billing platform, MVNO customer support, handling claims of MVNOs’ customers, access to SIM cards, telephone devices and Plus’s telephone card recharging sales channels as well as other services, depending on the needs and selected technical model of cooperation. Thanks to the API interface, MVNO operators can manage services for their customers themselves, freely design tariffs, activate services and use their own CRM system to manage services for their customers.
Polkomtel was the first mobile operator in Poland to open its network to MVNOs in 2006 and since then it sustains the leading position in this telecommunications market segment.