Liberty Global’s possible acquisition of Multimedia Polska is unlikely to have a major impact on the Polish cable industry.
However, according to Jerzy Straszewski, president of the Polish Chamber of Electronic Communications (PIKE), speaking exclusively to Broadband TV News, it will instead create a strong partner and increase competition with telcos such as the incumbent Orange.
Straszewski said it was important to bear in mind that there are two types of consolidation currently taking place in the Polish market, namely capital and technological.
While a Liberty/Multimedia deal would be an example of the former, the latter is characterised by agreements that see operators such as Toya, Inea and Promax provide their services to smaller companies.
Commenting on the Polish cable market in general, Straszewski said that it is ahead of the curve in realising the European Digital Agenda, with all operators now providing minimum internet access speeds of 30 Mbps, 85-90% offering 100 Mbps and several, including Inea, Toya, Vectra and UPC, 500 Mbps.
Meanwhile, Orange is undertaking a major fibre build in a number of locations including the capital, Warsaw.
For its part, PIKE has been playing a leading role, working for Polska Cyfrowa as part of the European Digital Agenda.
It is also preparing for the launch of a new channel – Zoom TV, jointly owned by the Chamber (51%) and SPI’s Kino Polska (49%) – in mid September.
Sourcing 30% of its content from local broadcasters, it will be distributed terrestrially and both via cable and satellite.
As previously reported by Broadband TV News, Liberty Global is believed to be close to acquiring Multimedia Polska, one of its main competitors. Should the deal materialise, the combined entity would account for around 50% of the Polish cable market.
However, it should be born in mind that the competition authority forced Liberty to sell on some of its acquired assets when it completed its last major deal in Poland, buying the Warsaw and Kraków based operator Aster several years ago.
