Annual Report 2021
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Strategy Committee activities in 2021

The Committee gives its opinions and recommendations to the Supervisory Board on the strategic plans set out by the Management Board, as well as any further suggestions to strategic plans made by the Supervisory Board, in particular concerning key strategic directions.

Letter from the Chairman of the Strategy Committee

Dear Shareholders,

2021 was a year filled with important accomplishments for Orange Polska. Like the previous year, there were many pandemic challenges to contend with, along with encouraging new opportunities and actions. The Company has continued to provide reliable and well-appreciated services to its clients, supporting them in digital transformation while the internal Orange Polska operations entered the “new normal” hybrid working mode.

But 2021 will be remembered mostly as the year of the new Orange .Grow strategy’s formulation and its announcement to the market. In June, following extensive discussions during
our Committee meetings, the new four-year plan for company development by 2024 was approved.

Orange .Grow is a bold next step on our value-creation journey, conceived as an important evolutionary step to stimulate and accelerate sales and profit growth, while laying the foundation for further growth.

Among the top-priority topics discussed during our Committee meetings was Orange Polska’s commitment to grow in a socially responsible way. In its .Grow strategy the Company has set ambitious ESG goals for itself and is ideally placed both to help others reduce their own environmental footprint, and to ensure that no one is left behind.

A lot of the Committee’s attention was also devoted to one of the big achievements of 2021 – the creation of FiberCo co-owned with financial investor APG. This joint venture aims to support the rollout of fibre in Poland, in areas where access to very high-speed broadband infrastructure is limited or non-existent. It will allow Orange Polska to pursue its ambitious fibre-optic rollout strategy by sharing investment costs.

Let me take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to all Committee members and guests who have supported the Company with their expertise and experience in such constructive and open exchanges.

Jean-Marc Vignolles
Chairman of the Strategy Committee

Strategy Committee at a glance

The Strategy Committee should meet at least twice a year. The Committee gives its opinions and recommendations to the Supervisory Board on the strategic plans set out by the Management Board, as well as any further suggestions to strategic plans made by the Supervisory Board, in particular concerning key strategic directions. The Strategy Committee may also provide recommendations to the Supervisory Board regarding Management’s planning processes. The Committee is consulted on all strategic projects related to the development of Orange Polska Group, the monitoring of the evolution of industrial partnerships withi the Orange Polska Group and projects involving strategic agreements for Orange Polska Group. It then reports and makes recommendations on each of these projects to the Supervisory Board.

In particular, the Committee is invited to consider projects such as:

  • strategic agreements, alliances, and technological and industrial co-operation agreements, including aspects of the strategic partnership between Orange Group and Orange Polska Group;
  • significant acquisitions and sales of assets.

Strategy Committee members in 2021
Jean-Marc Vignolles Chairman
Henryka Bochniarz, PhD (Independent Board Member – until 25 June 2021)
Thierry Bonhomme (until 25 June 2021)
Bénédicte David (since 25 June 2021)
Eric Debroeck (until 25 June 2021
Patrice Lambert-de Diesbach
Monika Nachyła (Independent Board Member)
Maria Pasło-Wiśniewska, PhD (Independent Board Member)
Wioletta Rosołowska (Independent Board Member – since 25 June 2021)

Mr. Maciej Witucki, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, and Mr. John Russell Houlden, Independent Board Member and Chairman of the Audit Committee, participate in the meetings of the Strategy Committee on a permanent basis. Orange Polska Supervisory Board and Management Board Members actively participated in the works of the Committee, whenever appropriate.

Issues on the Strategy Committee’s agenda for 2021

The Committee analysed the successful conclusion of the Orange.One strategic plan. Its ambitious targets were met and multi-year negative trends in sales and profitability were reversed. Based on these foundations and embracing current market and customer trends, the new four-year plan by 2024 was defined by the Management Board and reviewed and discussed by the Committee.

Poland’s fixed-broadband retail market is quickly becoming high-speed oriented thanks to growing fibre coverage, cable technology upgrades and rising customer demand. Orange Polska is a leading player in the fibre market with an ambition to provide access to up to 8 million households by 2024. The wholesale broadband market in Poland is gradually building up as more ISPs are opening their networks to others. The Committee discussed additional fibre rollout potential in areas that still lack reliable internet access across the country with a business model that aims to maximise available revenues by opening-up wholesale access to third-party operators and investment shared with financial partner.

Poland is a challenging market as energy production is highly carbonised, with more than 70% still coming from coal. Climate responsibility is an indispensable part of Orange Polska’s daily activities and an immanent element of the .Grow strategy. The Committee analysed company plans to cut the emissions it produces by 65% in 2025 compared with the level in 2015, mainly through sourcing at least 60% of its electricity from renewable energy. Between 2015 and 2020 Orange Polska completed more than 200 initiatives, saving more than 700 Gigawatt hours of energy and reducing carbon emissions by 530,000 tonnes.

5G monetisation is a key element of the Orange .Grow strategy. This new technology will be a catalyst for new businesses in B2B as it will bring new perspectives for revenues beyond the legacy services market and accelerate ICT development. The Committee reviewed current Orange Polska achievements in campus networks as well as opportunities and plans by 2024.

The Committee analysed Orange Polska mobile network development plans by 2024 with special attention put on 5G deployment, 3G switch off and spectrum refarming as well as network assets valuation in perspective of mobile infrastructure landscape in Poland.

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