The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is supporting Poland’s mobile network operator Play with an investment of PLN100mn (€22.02mn) in Play’s senior unsecured bonds, the EBRD said on January 22.

Play will invest the funds in a roll-out of 5G technology. With the investment, which implies lower energy consumption compared to previous technologies, the company “will intensify its efforts to improve the energy efficiency of its network and offer customers faster and more reliable mobile broadband,” the EBRD noted.

The total volume of the issuance was PLN500mn. The bond was issued on the Polish local capital market and placed with a wide group of institutional investors and will be listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange’s alternative trading market. 

Play’s bonds have a maturity of seven years, the longest tenor among issuances placed in the corporate sector since the beginning of the lockdown in Poland in March 2020, the EBRD said.

Play is the brand name of P4, which was recently acquired by French telecom Iliad. The company had over 15mn subscribers as of June 2020 and a subscriber market share of around 28%. 

“The coronavirus pandemic has dramatically demonstrated the need to accelerate the digitalisation of the economy. Play’s investment in 5G, the latest mobile communications technology, is an important step for Poland’s progress with this transformation,” said Dirk Werner, director and head of telecommunications, media and technology at the EBRD.