The new management of Dialog, which was formerly called Telefonia Lokalna, is now preparing a new five year development plan. It hopes to have it ready by the end of February. For the moment little is known of it. The Wrocław based company recently changed its name to Dialog as it is no longer local in Lower Silesia but has plans to expand in other areas as well.
Katarzyna Muszkat, MD of Dialog says that the company will be investing around PLN400m — PLN500m this year which will allow the company to offer up to 700,000 lines and a client base of 430,000 — 450,000.
Muszkat says that the company will not have any problems finding the cash for development. Shareholders will be asked to agree to an increase in capital to PLN200m at their next general meeting.
Negotiations are currently in place with KGHM about ways of underwriting the issue. However clearly the best way of funding would be to find a backer. Muszkat believes that the best way of financing the company would be through a long term investor which would stay with the company for five to seven years during the investment stage of the company in order to limit the cost of servicing loans.
It will not be easy to find a backer given the current state of the telecommunications market. Last year KGHM looked for an investor but failed to find one.
Muszkat claims that it is not enough just to send out memoranda and then sit back waiting for replies. She says that an investor must see a clear development plan, something which was sadly missing up until now. She claims that the current plan has already caught the eye of certain financial institutions.