PPF Group has formally separated the retail and infrastructure telecommunications businesses of three of its Telenor-branded mobile operations in Bulgaria, Hungary and Serbia, and subsequently established CETIN Group. In a press release yesterday (2 July), the group confirmed the creation of CETIN Bulgaria, CETIN Hungary and CETIN Serbia, which together with CETIN in the Czech Republic, will become the telecommunication infrastructure backbone of PPF Telecom Group. On completion of its internal restructuring, the four units will fall under the remit of CETIN Group, which will remain under control of PPF Telecom Group.
The statement went on to say: ‘CETIN Group’s extensive, 24/7 supervised networks will provide superior voice, data, TV, video, IT, and cybersecurity services to Telenor CEE and other wholesale customers in the region and internationally, including O2 Czech Republic. Separating infrastructure from retail (including B2B) will enable the two separated entities in each country to wholly focus on two different market segments and meet in the most efficient way the increasing demands of the CEE telecommunications market.’ Going forward, CETIN Group will assume responsibility for the construction and operation of infrastructure, allowing the retail organisations ‘to exclusively dedicate energy to their service propositions and retail customer management’. PPF Telecom Group hopes the restructuring will ‘strengthen both the retail and infrastructure businesses and lead to greater opportunities across CEE, with Telenor CEE stakeholders and consumers only benefiting from the separation, just as a similar separation of O2 and CETIN in the Czech Republic did five years ago’.