The future’s Orange for Centertel

Poland’s leading telecoms operator Telekomunikacja Polska (TP SA) says it will re-brand its mobile arm Centertel under the worldwide Orange banner from 19 September, and hopes the move will help catapult it into the position of market leader by 2006. Commenting on the cellco’s imminent re-branding, TP SA’s chief executive Marek Jozefiak said he expects the globally recognised Orange brand name to help the unit to achieve the target of becoming ‘top-dog’ more quickly. Centertel, which currently markets services under the Idea banner, controls roughly a third of Poland’s mobile market with 8.6 million subscribers at the end of June. It hopes to break the nine million barrier by the end of the year. TP SA holds a 66% stake in Centertel and plans to buy the remaining 34% from France Télécom, which is also TP SA’s largest single shareholder with a 47.5% interest.