Netia sees signs of turnaround as it focuses on own network

Polish alternative telco Netia saw signs of a turnaround in the first quarter, with strong growth in TV numbers seen as one of the results of focusing on the development of its own network at the expense of regulated access lines. 

Netia had 145,000 TV customers at the end of March, an increase of 14% year-on-year. The company launched a DVR service, GigaNagrywarke, in April, which it said was likely to give a boost to customer uptake.

Broadband customers on the other hand fell by 7% to 780,000, with about 53% of customers now being on Netia’s own network, with 35% of those also taking TV services.

The company is focused on delivering services on its own network, which now number 1.19 million. Services offered via third-party networks have fallen to under half of the operator’s base, at 1.076 million.

In April, Netia agreed to acquire smaller operator TK Telekom from PKP Group for PLN221 million, expanding the scale of its operations by about 28%.

Overall, Netia’s revenues fell by 11% in the quarter, driven lower by voice services on regulated acess lines and price competition in the B2B sector. Adjusted EBITDA was unchanged at PLN113 million.

Commercial director Andrzej Kondracki said that the quarter represented a much better performance than previous periods.