This is the first stage of the investment process planned for 3 years thanks to which in 2020 the operator will have its own independent network, covering the whole country.
PLAY has repeatedly showed the market that it can do something well and very quickly. Now the time has come for network rollout. Today the network of the largest operator in Poland consists of 5,746 physical sites supported by national roaming agreements with the three other MNOs. What is important is that the vast majority of these sites, i.e. 5,650, support LTE.
“We are extending our own network rapidly because we want to be prepared for increasing demand of our customers,” Jorgen Bang – Jensen, CEO of Play, says.
“Within the last few years data usage on smartphones has risen 40 times and it keeps growing,” he adds.
The operator has announced that it intends to go live with over 1,000 base stations in 2018. This is a very ambitious plan, particularly since the investment process in Poland is a big challenge for operators. It is striking that 75% of stations deployed are high towers (several dozen meters high). The operator is investing in rolling out its network both in towns/cities and in rural areas in order to improve its coverage also in geographical terms, to achieve a level comparable with other players on the market by 2020. Ultimately, PLAY is to provide coverage to 99.5% of the population of Poland and in over 98% of Poland’s territory.
The network is being deployed primarily on the basis of the operator’s own infrastructure, however, PLAY is also cooperating with other players in this respect. 590 physical sites use the infrastructure of other players and at the same time PLAY makes 290 of its sites available to competitors.
*gross number of sites