Consolidation is both inevitable and necessary for the Polish cable industry, according to Simon Boyd, the outgoing president of UPC Polska, the country’s leading operator.
Speaking in a wide-range interview with UPC Polska, he added that he hoped operators would be able to convince the competition authority UOKiK of the need for further consolidation in the cable sector, given developments elsewhere in the marketplace.
A few years down the line Poland is likely to have only one strong DTH platform, one strong cable operator and one strong fixed-line operator, investing in its network.
Boyd was of the view that small cable operators would face a particular threat if Orange would start to invest in FTTH as well as vDSL.
He also said that Netia could in due course become a leading cable operator providing it buys someone, following on from its acquisitions of Dialog and Crowley, as well as part of Aster’s network.
Netia could itself become a take-over target for the likes of Orange, though that is unlikely at present.
Boyd in addition said that although linear and on demand viewing were currently complementary it was difficult to predict how things would look like in the future.
He also made the point that, like Netflix, cable operators, including UPC Polska, already invest in content.
Boyd was of the view that operator will have to compete on the basis of services and products, creating a real value for clients for which they would be willing to pay more.
