The European Commission (EC) last week joined the Office of Electronic Communication's (UKE) fight to split Telekomunikacja Polska (TP) into two companies with differing responsibilities. One would be responsible for running and maintaining infrastructure, while the other would function as a service provider in direct competition with existing providers. The service provider would have to pay the same price for telephone-line access as other operators, thereby eliminating the company's advantage.
"We expect the TP breakup will result in a cost decrease for competitors. That could lead to lower prices for the end customer," said Anna Streżyńska, the UKE's president.
"The European Commission supports the move," said Martin Selmayr, spokesperson for the EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media. EC support is needed to force TP to split.
TP is fighting the move. "The application hasn't been submitted yet and there are no essential or legal reasons to split TP," said the firm's executive director, Ireneusz Piecuch. At the earliest, the procedure to split TP could be initiated next year and could last up to a year.
In the meantime, TP's competitors are cautiously rooting for the breakup. Jolanta Ciesielska, spokesperson for telecom-service provider Netia, said that it would make line access and cost equal for every operator. "We should learn from foreign experience. In several European countries, the state regulator forced the monopoly telecom company to break up. That meant a big customer loss for them because of the increase in competition. They also fought like TP is doing now, but it was inevitable," she added.
Marta Pietranik, spokesperson for Dialog, pointed out that it is not certain that the situation would improve if TP were to split. "But we will support any initiative that leads to an increase in competition."
