Privatizing Poland's Telecom Industry: Opportunities and Challenges in the New Economy and e-Business (B‪)‬

This case is a follow up to Privatizing Poland's Telecom Industry: Opportunities and Challenges in the New Economy and e-business (A), Ivey product 9B00M023 and contains information in regard to Telekomunikacja Polska S.A. (TPSA) over the period of 2000-2008. Students will be interested to see what actually happened related to the issues raised in the (A) case. Many will have expected that France Telecom moved quickly to consolidate its control over TPSA. However, few will have expected that TPSA was able to cut their workforce in half so quickly and achieve a substantial profit increase by 2004. Yet, France Telecom was blocked by the slow development of e-business in Poland, and so many of the expectations in regard to revenue from value-added activities had still failed to materialize by 2008. A focus for discussion of the (B) case concerns the likely regulatory changes in Poland's telecom sector. Students will be interested in providing advice to Poland's new parliamentary leaders regarding the regulatory reforms they would recommend. Students can also debate whether the European Union (EU) will be able to impose uniform regulations throughout the EU that can stimulate the growth of new competitors. Their recommendations for a political strategy for France Telecom and TPSA should also generate debate.