T-mobile Poland In 2q 2007

[Przemolog]

Mr Klaus Hartmann, the CEO of PTC announced on the press conference on 18th Nov that (the most probably) Era will rebrand into T-Mobile in 2Q 2007. In this way he denied rumours that rebranding would take place as early as in December (to be completed before Christmas). There is no decision yet whether Heyah survives or not.

BTW, Era, as the first Polish operator, has recently started HSDPA in several largest cities.

[Motel75]

They would be foolish indeed to kill off Heyah, and in fact, now that they own the brand (the ongoing fight with Vivendi notwithstanding) it would be foolish if they didn't launch it in other countries as well.

However, from what I've been hearing and reading, Heyah will probably be left well alone.

I hope TMO PL is better integrated into the worldwide T-Mobile family (well, ignoring TMO USA) than Orange PL is. Try to recharge your mobile with Orange topups elsewhere. You can't.

[Przemolog]

Originally Posted by Motel75

They would be foolish indeed to kill off Heyah, and in fact, now that they own the brand (the ongoing fight with Vivendi notwithstanding) it would be foolish if they didn't launch it in other countries as well.

However, from what I've been hearing and reading, Heyah will probably be left well alone.

What do you mean by "left alone" - that Heyah will remain Polish-only "fake MVNO" brand at it is today? Did you hear any rumours about "internalisation" of Heyah???
After all, it might be a good idea to offer the Heyah brand in T-Mo countries with large numbers of Polish immigrants (I mean mainly UK and Germany). MNI, a small landline operator already plans to become a MVNO with the same brand in Poland, UK and Ireland.

Originally Posted by Motel75

I hope TMO PL is better integrated into the worldwide T-Mobile family (well, ignoring TMO USA) than Orange PL is. Try to recharge your mobile with Orange topups elsewhere. You can't.

Good idea. But remember that Poland is not in euro zone and will not be soon (or ever - the current government is very hostile to change zlotys to euros). Moreover, the exchange rate is fully flexible - this means that top-ups bought abroad may result in "uncertain" top-up values in zlotys (and vice-versa, top-ups bought in Poland may convert to unpredicted value in euros, pounds, crowns or forints . I'm not also sure if there are no issues with Polish VAT regulations on such transactions.

[Motel75]

What do you mean by "left alone" - that Heyah will remain Polish-only "fake MVNO" brand at it is today? Did you hear any rumours about "internalisation" of Heyah???

Only that they have no plans to kill it off. ("to leave alone" = not to change anything) They will leave Heyah the way it is. I mention this only because a couple of news stories said "no decision has been made regarding the future of Heyah" or similar. I think this is just journalists trying to pad out their stories, though.

But remember that Poland is not in euro zone and will not be soon (or ever - the current government is very hostile to change zlotys to euros). Moreover, the exchange rate is fully flexible - this means that top-ups bought abroad may result in "uncertain" top-up values in zlotys

International top-ups don't require everything to be in the same currency - you can top up any Vodafone card anywhere else, regardless of the currency. Any fluctuations in exchange rate are taken care of by the inevitable international topup fee, which is usually quite a lot, so you couldn't save money by topping up somewhere else when the exchange rate changes.

After all, it might be a good idea to offer the Heyah brand in T-Mo countries with large numbers of Polish immigrants

If TMO does expand the brand anywhere else, it shouldn't be aimed just at Poles abroad, this would be a wasted opportunity. There's nothing specifically Polish about the Heyah concept, and it could have a very broad appeal (to a youngish, mostly cost-conscious demographic group). Note that the one brand that kinda-sorta appeals to Polishness (Sami Swoi) hasn't been all that successful.