Agreement between Polkomtel and Ericsson

Polkomtel signed an agreement with Ericsson for implementation of a new platform Next Generation IN-Prepaid and maintenance of the existing platform NGIN-Postpaid.

Acquisition of Radio PIN S.A.

On February 27, 2015 Telewizja Polsat Sp. z o.o. acquired 100% of shares of Radio PIN S.A. for PLN 4.3 million. Radio PIN S.A. is a broadcaster of Muzo.fm radio channel. In January 2016 the company was transformed into Muzo.fm Sp. z o.o.

TV Polsat buys rights to sports events coverage

In 2015 TV Polsat acquired numerous rights to coverage of sports events, including, in particular, the right to broadcast the World Rally Championship (WRC) series during the coming two seasons and the exclusive rights to the coverage of the European championship tournaments in men’s and women’s volleyball in the years 2015 and 2017, in all fields of exploitation, i.e. on TV, the Internet and in mobile networks. Other rights to sports events acquired by the company in 2015 include the rights to the coverage of the European Games, which took place in Azerbaijan in 2015 under the auspices of the European Olympic Committee, as well as the rights to the coverage of Polish football league matches.

LTE Internet access operating in 800 MHz frequency band

Starting from March customers of Plus and Cyfrowy Polsat have been the first in Poland to be able to enjoy LTE Internet access offered in 800 MHz frequency band. Population coverage of the Group’s Internet access service exceeds 90% thanks to over 1000 new base stations built by Midas Group as an element of LTE 800 network roll out.

Polsat Group’s new corporate information service

www.grupapolsat.pl is the new corporate information service of Polsat Group launched in March.

Appointment of members of the Supervisory Board

On April 2, 2015, the Annual General Meeting of the Company appointed Mr. Zygmunt Solorz-Żak, Mr. Robert Gwiazdowski, Mr. Józef Birka, Mr. Aleksander Myszka, Mr. Heronim Ruta and Mr. Leszek Reksa to the Supervisory Board for a subsequent three-year term of office.

Introduction to trading of Series J shares

The Management Board of the Warsaw Stock Exchange decided that 243,932,490 Series J ordinary bearer shares of the Company shall be listed on the main market of the WSE as of April 20, 2015.

HD Voice technology in Plus

In April Plus introduced HD Voice technology for all of its customers throughout the country. Thanks to HD Voice technology Plus customers may enjoy higher quality and better comfort of the voice calls they make. 

Partial repayment of the term loan

On April 13, Polsat Group made an additional repayment of part of Polkomtel’s term loan in the amount of PLN 600 million.

Teleaudio Dwa and InterPhone Service join Polsat Group

Teleaudio Dwa, the leader in the field of Premium Rate services, as well as InterPhone Service, the manufacturer of state-of-the-art telecommunication and electronic appliances, joined Cyfrowy Polsat Group on April 1.

TVN thematic channels offered in HD quality by Cyfrowy Polsat

On May 1 the list of the channels available on our platform was extended by TVN’s thematic channels offered in HD quality, including TVN 24 HD, TVN Turbo HD, TVN Style HD and TVN Fabuła HD.

IPLA develops the functionality of subtitles

Thinking of people with hearing impairment, IPLA developed the functionality of subtitles and extended the library of materials with subtitles by content from TV Polsat offer.

Test of LTE 450 Mbps

In July Polkomtel and Ericsson carried out a joint test of aggregation of three spectrum bands in the LTE-Advanced standard and achieved data download rates up to 450 Mbps. This result was possible thanks to the simultaneous use of 20 MHz of the carrier frequency in the 800 MHz, 1800MHz and 2600 MHz frequency bands.

Issuance of bonds of Cyfrowy Polsat S.A.

On July 21, 2015 Cyfrowy Polsat informed of the issue of one million unsecured series A corporate bearer bonds with a total nominal value of one billion zloty.

Partial repayment of the term loan

On July 29, Polsat Group made a pre-term repayment in the amount of PLN 1 billion on account of Cyfrowy Polsat’s term loan.

Advertising campaign with Polish representation in volleyball

Plus runs advertising campaign endorsing Polish men’s national volleyball team, Volleyball Men’s World Championship.

Polsat Group’s new TV production studio

In September TV Polsat finished the construction of a modern studio designed for the production of TV shows. The building, with a cubage of 22 thousand cu. meters, contains a 1200 sq.-meter studio, as well as spacious dressing rooms, make-up rooms and space for an audience of several hundred people. The studio is located in Cyfrowy Polsat headquarters in Warsaw’s Targówek district.

Development of telemedicine services

In September, as the first telecommunication operator in Poland, Plus offered its customers a service in the field of telemedicine called Ja+Zdrowie (I + Health). The service features medical consultations with doctors offered round-the-clock on all days of the week, contact with a nurse or midwife, information on units offering ER (Emergency Room) services and on available doctor consultations. 

Plus offers access to HBO GO

On September 3, Plus became the first mobile operator in Poland to enable access to HBO GO for its customers, who have mobile services subscriptions with Internet access or mobile subscriptions for LTE Internet access. 

Refinancing of the Group's debt

On September 21, Cyfrowy Polsat Group signed a senior facilities agreement with a consortium of Polish and foreign banks for a term facility in the amount of up to PLN 11.5 billion and a revolving facility in the amount of up to PLN 1 billion. Together with the non-secured series A corporate bearer bonds worth PLN 1 billion, the funds were used to refinance the Group’s existing debt. 

Standard&Poor’s Services upgrades the Group's rating

On September 25, Standard & Poor's Rating Services upgraded the corporate ratings of the Group’s companies to BB+.

Polsat Group honored by the Euromoney magazine

In September, for the second time in history, Polsat Group was recognized by  the British financial magazine, Euromoney, in the ranking of the "Best Managed Companies in Central & Eastern Europe 2015".

Cooperation with ADB

In September Cyfrowy Polsat and ADB entered into cooperation with the purpose of jointly developing state-of-the-art TV services and solutions. Cyfrowy Polsat will implement software developed by ADB, relying on integrated and personalized TV, into set-top boxes manufactured by Cyfrowy Polsat. The implementation will enhance customer experience for subscribers of the company’s TV services while offering a totally new method of navigation and interaction with the TV. At the same time, by virtue of the signed agreement, Cyfrowy Polsat is the provider of set-top-boxes for ADB.

Access to Wi-Fi Calling

In September Plus became the first mobile operator on the market to run a trial of the innovative Wi-Fi Calling solution which enables voice calls wherever there exists Wi-Fi coverage while normal calls over a mobile network are difficult. The use of Wi-Fi Calling offers voice calls in the same way as normally, that is based on one’s own mobile phone number and using a dialer or the contacts stored in one’s phone.

Results of the LTE auction

The results of the LTE auction were announced by UKE (Office of Electronic Communications) on October 19, 2015. As a result of bidding, Polkomtel won 4 spectrum blocks in 2600 MHz band for which it paid PLN 155.7 million in total.

Applications for spectrum reservation

On October 26, Polkomtel filed applications for the reservation of the spectrum from the 2600 MHz bandwidth, which was offered in the auction for the spectrum from the 800 MHz and 2600 MHz bandwidths. The auction ended in October.

Continuation of the promotion Second product at half price, third product for one zloty

On October 7 Cyfrowy Polsat and Plus restored the promotion offering the second product at half price and the third product for even as little as 1 zloty as part of its smartDOM program. The promotion offers a broad portfolio of services to customers, including TV, LTE Internet access,  mobile phone services, at very attractive prices.

New website of Polsat News

The new information portal, www.polsatnews.pl, was launched in October.

Effie Awards for smartDOM and for the advertising campaign called Saving by adding

On October 12, Polsat Group received an award for its smartDOM program. The award was presented during the Effie Awards, one of the most important contests in the advertising industry. The Silver award in the Telecommunications category was presented to Cyfrowy Polsat and Plus for their joint advertising campaign Oszczędzanie przez dodawanie (Saving by adding).

Migration to the latest signal compression system - MPEG-4

On October 1 Cyfrowy Polsat migrated to the latest signal compression system relying on MPEG-4 standard. It enables enhanced TV signal quality and more effective use of satellite capacity. Cyfrowy Polsat subscribers are offered even better signal quality and thanks to the implementation they have also gained access to additional 16 HD channels, which brought the total number of HD channels available on Cyfrowy Polsat platform to nearly 70.

IPLA application downloaded 5 million times from Google Play

In 2015 the number of the downloads of the application for the biggest IPLA Internet TV in the version for Android OS exceeded 5 million, which made it one of the most popular Polish applications in Google Play and the most popular mobile VOD application in Poland at the time.

HBO GO in the Internet offer of Cyfrowy Polsat

Starting from December 17, Cyfrowy Polsat's customers of the LTE Internet access service have been offered the possibility of buying the HBO GO service, offering premium TV content. HBO GO is currently available without a satellite TV subscription for prices starting at PLN 20 monthly.

Changes in the composition of the Management Board of Cyfrowy Polsat

On December 8, 2015 the Supervisory Board appointed Mr. Tobias Solorz, the hitherto Vice-President of the Management Board, to the position of President of the Management Board, and Mr. Tomasz Gillner-Gorywoda, the hitherto President of the Management Board, to the position of Member of the Management Board. Furthermore, the Supervisory Board also appointed Ms. Agnieszka Odorowicz to the position of Member of the Management Board as of March 1, 2016.

Launch of a new Polsat satellite TV channel

A new satellite TV channel of Polsat Group, Polsat 1, was launched on December 18.  It is addressed to Poles who live abroad. Polsat 1 offers attractive programs selected from the rich library of Polsat, TV4, Polsat Café and Polsat Play programs.