T-Mobile (Poland)

T-Mobile Polska S.A.

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Telecommunication
Founded	Warsaw, Poland (February 1996)
Headquarters	Warsaw, Poland
Key people	Adam Sawicki, Chief executive officer
Number of employees	4,800
Parent	Deutsche Telekom
Website	www.t-mobile.pl

T-Mobile Polska S.A. is Polish mobile phone network operator. The company was formerly named Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa and operated under the name Era, until being rebranded as T-Mobile on 5 June 2011. As in other European countries, the company operates a GSM network. Following a decade-long ownership dispute with the French Vivendi corporation, the company has been wholly owned by the German telecommunications provider Deutsche Telekom since 2010.

On 26 February 1996 'Polish Digital Telephony' won a license to provide telecommunications services paging number 602 and permission to build a mobile radio communication network according to the standard GSM in the 900 MHz band, which was later extended to GSM 1800 MHz. The first test (non-commercial) base stations were launched during the International Trade Fair in June 1996 and a few base stations in Warsaw. The commercial launch of the network took place on 16 September 1996.

At the end of 2004, Era had over 8.6 million customers and was the largest mobile phone network operator in Central Europe, and by the end of June 2011 it had 13.2 million subscribers, placing it third in the market with 30% market share. Era was one of Poland's most recognizable domestic brand names, partly because the company pursued an aggressive advertising campaign that made Era billboards, sponsored events, and other commercials ubiquitous in Poland. Towards the end of 2005, Era became the first mobile phone operator in Poland (and eighth in Europe) to have 10 million customers. The 10,000,000th client signing was celebrated with a concert by Van Morrison in Warsaw. Era was the first operator in the country to launch a HSDPA service in October 2006.

The company's prepaid mobile phone service is called Tak Tak (Yes Yes), and has remained under T-Mobile branding.

Heyah is a pay-as-you-go brand offered by Polish GSM provider Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa. The brand was introduced in 2004 but makes no reference to either T-Mobile or Era in its branding. Although it is marketed primarily toward young people, it had a substantial effect on the Polish mobile telephony market with its significantly lower prices and one-second billing. Within a month of launch it had attracted over one million users.