Orange Polska : CR# 45-2015 Changes in Orange Polska regulations concerning leased lines markets

LSE - Current Report (45/2015)
Orange Polska S.A. - Warsaw, Poland
September 21, 2015

Pursuant to article 56(1.1) of the Law of 29 July 2005 on public offering and the conditions for introducing financial instruments to the organised trading system and on public companies (Journal of Laws of 2005, No. 184, item 1539, as amended), the Management Board of Orange Polska S.A. ("Orange Polska", "the Company") hereby informs about the receipt of a decision of the President of the Office of Electronic Communication ("UKE").

Changes in regulations concerning Orange Polska

On September 21, 2015, Orange Polska received decisions issued by the President of UKE following a review of the wholesale leased lines markets.

Pursuant to the President of UKE's decisions, Orange Polska is no longer designated as an operator having a significant market power (SMP) with respect to services of high-quality access provided at a fixed location above 2 Mbps (which involve leased line terminating segments of capacity of over 2 Mbps) and the wholesale trunk segment of leased line services. However, Orange Polska should continue to perform its regulatory obligations on the wholesale trunk segment of leased line market for a further 90 days after the receipt of the President of UKE's decision, whereas deregulation of high-quality access provided at a fixed location above 2 Mbps became effective as of the date of receipt of the relevant decision of the President of UKE, i.e. as of September 21, 2015.

Orange Polska will still be subject to regulation with respect to services of high-quality access provided at a fixed location of capacity of up to 2 Mbps (inclusively). Consequently, Orange Polska has a regulatory obligation to provide non-discriminatory access to services, charge cost-based fees and prepare a reference offer, which is subject to President of UKE's approval.

Commenting on the regulator's decisions, Bruno Duthoit, CEO of Orange Polska, said: "Gradual deregulation of wholesale leased lines services is a trend observed all over EU. In our view, the market conditions required the Polish regulator to implement a deregulation, and not only with respect to the services provided on the trunk network, but also in a part of the access network segment. There are several very strong groups active on these markets, which compete against one another on both the wholesale and retail level. Orange Polska will now be able to effectively compete on the leased lines markets, which will ultimately benefit the end users."