This article is a part of Poland Unpacked. Weekly intelligence for decision-makers
The telecom and marketing group believes the market – long dominated by a handful of operators – is undergoing a fundamental shift. It is courting customers with quality and additional services, while attracting partners with a data-driven advertising offering. Its expansion across Europe is being supported by an entrepreneur who previously sold a technology company to a global holding group.
“People pay more for a breakfast with a cappuccino and toast in a city center than for a monthly mobile subscription,” Andreas Maierhofer, CEO of T-Mobile Polska, told XYZ. Competition in Poland, driven primarily by Play, Plus, and Orange, is exceptionally strong. Still, this does not deter new players from stepping into the arena.
Lower barriers to entry exist for so-called MVNOs (mobile virtual network operators), which operate without owning telecommunications infrastructure that requires billions of zlotys in investment. Within a few years of launching in 2012, Virgin Mobile Polska became the domestic leader in this segment. It was acquired in 2020 by Play for approximately PLN 60 million (about EUR 14 million).
For several years now, Poland’s Fonia Group has been building its position by combining telecommunications services with data-driven marketing. It has just secured a significant investor – an individual one.
Investor – an entrepreneur with a strong track record
A 30% stake, at a valuation of several million euros, has been acquired by Mateusz Borowiecki, with transaction advisory support from JP Weber. Borowiecki founded OptiBuy, a technology company that he later sold to a global holding group. He was the majority shareholder, and the transaction value exceeded EUR 30 million. After stepping down in 2025, he turned to investing.
He intends to be an active shareholder. His goal is to support Fonia’s transformation from a strong local player into a truly international company. He argues that combining telecommunications with advertising technology is a natural fit with global market trends.
“With this investment, we are now in an excellent position to fully unlock the potential of the entire offering. While we remain focused on strengthening and expanding our presence in Poland, our ambitions go much further. Our goal is to establish a model that combines digital telecom services with a data-driven advertising offering as a scalable international standard – first in the DACH region [German-speaking countries], and later also in Spain and the United Kingdom,” said Avi Magid, co-founder of Fonia Group.
In the near term, the company aims to become a leading MVNO in Poland, and then replicate that success not only across Europe but also in Latin America. The investor is expected to significantly accelerate this process.
Fireside chat
Committed investor with a plan
XYZ: What durable competitive advantages of the Fonia Group prompted your investment?
Mateusz Borowiecki, entrepreneur and investor: There are several. First and foremost, a strong and highly complementary management team. In addition, the company operates in a unique way, at the intersection of digital marketing, data, and mobile services. It is able to generate above-market results for its clients and, for years, has virtually not been losing them. This allows it to grow in a highly deliberate and profitable manner.
How significant is this investment for you in terms of both capital and time commitment?
As a private investor, I aim to deploy both capital and experience in the projects I get involved in. Fonia is a relatively large position in my portfolio. However, beyond the purely financial aspect, I support the company in further international expansion and in structuring internal processes. I am able to help scale the business from its current turnover of several tens of millions of PLN (approximately several million euros) to several hundred million PLN (tens of millions of euros), while maintaining strong, healthy profitability.
At this stage, is there no need to bring in financial investors willing to commit larger amounts of capital?
I am not convinced that a financial investor is the best way to achieve our goal of increasing the size and value of the company. Fonia has a unique business model that is difficult to understand for investors who rely solely on financial metrics. It took me nearly six months to fully understand how the group operates and its key competitive advantages. We do not rule out raising capital entirely, but certainly not at this stage.
This is not your first or last investment. What do you expect from potential portfolio companies?
I look for companies with a proven business model, a strong management team, and international growth potential. Companies where I can add value not only with capital, but also with my own experience.
Years of cooperation and the role of the pandemic
Avi Magid, co-founder of Fonia Group, has been working with Dominik Karbowski, the company’s other co-founder, since 2010. At the time, he arrived in Poland from Israel to represent a company specializing in smart energy and metering systems. He was looking for a strong local engineering partner for an initial project.
“I met Dominik and, in a sense, it was love at first sight. From that moment on, we built everything together. We went from energy, through telecom infrastructure, all the way to becoming a virtual operator. However, we realized that the market gap was not in infrastructure or software, but in data and marketing – specifically, in building a marketing engine based on mobile data. Instead of ‘spray and pray’ campaigns [mass, untargeted campaigns], we focused on precision,” explains Avi Magid.
A key period that led to this shift was the pandemic. During that time, Fonia’s founders found themselves alone in the office, questioning their company, the market, and the world at large. It was then that they decided to build their own MVNO. They already had success in acquiring customers for telecom operators, particularly in SIM card sales.
“We concluded that people will always need to communicate, even in the worst-case scenario. That gave us confidence. At the same time, we decided to bring freshness to a very traditional market. That is why we combined a fully digital telecom experience with targeted marketing based on in-depth analysis of consumer behavior,” the entrepreneur explains.
Expert's perspective
Entrepreneurs driving the innovation ecosystem
The PFR Ventures portfolio currently includes more than 100 venture capital and private equity funds, which have financed the development of 1,150 companies. Across this group, we observe all of the scenarios mentioned above. Such cases are becoming increasingly common, confirming the maturing of Poland’s ecosystem.
According to our data, the average size of angel investment transactions in Poland is approximately PLN 300,000 (about EUR 70,000). The highest single-person commitment recorded in co-investments with our funds reached PLN 3.7 million (around EUR 850,000). At the other end of the scale, the smallest contributions were in the region of PLN 10,000 (around EUR 2,300).
This shows that investments involving business angels vary significantly. The level of involvement in a company’s operations is usually higher in the case of angels with entrepreneurial experience. The same applies to larger investment amounts.
A complete ecosystem: mobile services, eSIM, and marketing
The group operates across three business lines. Fonia Telecom is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) relying on the infrastructure of Orange and Plus networks. It integrates telecommunications services with an e-commerce platform offering products from more than 600 partners.
Fonia Travel provides eSIM services, enabling access to mobile internet in over 200 destinations worldwide. The technology is delivered to clients under their own brands in a white-label model. Its users already include, among others, PKO BP and Bank Millennium.
The third business line was created following the 2023 integration of the marketing agency Selectivv. Avi Magid and Dominik Karbowski have been running it since 2014. Fonia.Digital completed the group’s complementary offering for clients and users by providing highly targeted mobile advertising campaigns.
Each business line serves a distinct function while complementing the others. Fonia Telecom drives customer acquisition. Fonia Travel provides additional services, increasing engagement and average spending. Fonia.Digital, in turn, monetizes anonymized data, improving partner efficiency.
“We have built a fully digital mobile operator with a subscription-based model – similar to services such as Netflix, Spotify, or YouTube Premium. Customers expect flexibility, transparency, and no long-term commitments. Loyalty is based on quality, not contracts. Around this, we have built a complete ecosystem,” says Avi Magid.
Expert's perspective
A difficult market, with increasingly unfavorable conditions
This was made possible primarily by two factors. First, the Virgin Mobile brand was exceptionally strong and highly recognizable. Second, thanks to excellent access conditions to Play’s infrastructure, we were able to offer users a very attractive price proposition. We positioned ourselves just below the largest operators. Combined with a well-thought-out and effective marketing strategy, this allowed us to build a very strong position in a highly competitive market.
Fonia Group faces an exceptionally difficult challenge. Its offering is priced similarly to the sub-brands of the largest players, making it very hard to win users away from them. It does not have a widely recognized and distinctive brand that could act as a magnet for new customers. Relying on incentives such as good roaming conditions is not enough – T-Mobile or Orange, thanks to their international footprint, often have significantly better offers even than players specializing in this area.
This raises the question: where can profitability be found? One potential advantage for Fonia is its partner network. However, in the current market environment, this appears illusory. Cost pressure is so strong that no one is willing to share even a fraction of their margin unless there is a clear and solid economic justification.
In Poland, we have some of the cheapest mobile services in Europe, making it difficult to gain market share through price competition. Moreover, the MVNO model is not limited to simply plugging into someone else’s infrastructure. It involves specific obligations and fees that increase if scale does not grow at the right pace. A relatively large customer base must be built, and under current market conditions, that is very difficult.
Belief in a fundamental shift in the market
The Polish telecommunications market is largely “cemented.” According to a report by the Office of Electronic Communications (UKE), there are more than 100 mobile network providers. However, four of them – Orange, Plus, Play, and T-Mobile – account for the vast majority of users, each serving several million customers.
“There are two main barriers to entry for new players. The first is the very low ARPU [average revenue per user] in Poland. Consumers here are accustomed to paying as little as possible, so decisions about switching operators are extremely price-sensitive. The second is a kind of customer inertia. Many users do not change operators even if they are overpaying or receiving poor service. They stay out of habit,” says Avi Magid.
At the same time, he is firmly convinced that consumers’ approach to telecom services will change dramatically. He intends to get ahead of what he sees as an inevitable transformation.
“Right now, users primarily choose an operator for calls, messaging, and data transmission – and perhaps receive additional services on top of that. In the near future, it will be the other way around. Customers will look for the best digital experience and the highest added value – and expect connectivity to be virtually free. That is exactly the direction we are heading in,” explains the Fonia Group co-founder
Good to know
Continuous battle for mobile numbers
A significant share of mobile network users in Poland systematically migrate between providers. In 2025, they ported 1.69 million mobile numbers, according to data from the Office of Electronic Communications (UKE). The vast majority of this volume concerns the four largest operators.
Play achieved the most favorable balance (+71,500), having “given away” 390,500 numbers and “received” 462,000. Orange followed with +27,200 (380,500 transferred out and 407,700 in). T-Mobile lost 69,400 users, while Plus saw a decline of as many as 169,000.
In the first quarter of 2026, Plus again recorded the weakest result among the “big four,” with its user base shrinking by 32,000. Play also posted a negative balance (-11,500). T-Mobile slightly increased its base (+400), while Orange emerged as the winner (+17,000).
Among the more than 100 providers listed in the UKE report is also Fonia Telecom. Throughout 2025, 494 numbers were ported away from the operator, while 4,381 were ported in, resulting in a net positive balance of 3,900. The first quarter of 2026 brought further net growth of 1,600 (1,780 numbers gained and 156 lost). Only up to ten entities achieved a better result, including Vectra, Netia, and Mobile Vikings.
Doubling sales and tripling the user base
In 2024, the company generated over PLN 8 million (approximately EUR 1.85 million) in revenue and was already profitable, posting a net profit of nearly PLN 700,000 (around EUR 160,000). It has not yet disclosed detailed figures for the past year. In 2026, it plans to increase revenue by 80–90% and triple its user base to several tens of thousands. These ambitions were one of the reasons for opening up to an investor.
“We reached a point where our previous growth was no longer enough. We know where we are heading, and we want to get there faster. From the very first meeting, we felt a natural connection with Mateusz, similar to the one I had with Dominik. In addition, he brings experience, perspective, and a network of contacts that fit perfectly with our goals,” says Avi Magid.
He admits that he and his co-founder received numerous offers, including from venture capital funds, also recently. However, they ultimately chose a single individual investor.
“It is not just about capital. We need the right energy, mindset, and chemistry for it to work. With Mateusz, everything clicked – that was the most important thing,” the entrepreneur concludes.
Key Takeaways
- Three equal pillars. Fonia Group is built on three complementary business lines. Fonia Telecom is a mobile virtual network operator integrating telecom services with an e-commerce platform offering products from more than 600 partners. Fonia Travel provides eSIM services, enabling mobile internet access in over 200 destinations worldwide, and delivers this technology to clients including PKO BP and Bank Millennium. Meanwhile, Fonia.Digital runs highly targeted mobile advertising campaigns based on advanced data analytics.
- A private investor to support international ambitions. In recent years, Fonia Group received offers from venture capital funds, among others. However, its sole investor became an entrepreneur. The company accepted an offer from Mateusz Borowiecki, who successfully sold OptiBuy and has been investing since 2025. Beyond capital, he brings experience, a fresh perspective, and a network of contacts. He acquired a 30% stake at a valuation of several million euros. His primary role will be to support the company’s international expansion. In the first stage, Fonia will grow in Europe – starting with the DACH region, followed by Spain and the United Kingdom. In the next step, it is also considering Latin America.
- The base for expansion exists, but the path will be difficult. Fonia Group is already profitable and generates revenues in the range of several tens of millions of PLN. In 2026, it aims to nearly double its revenues and triple its user base to several tens of thousands. This will not be easy. Orange, Plus, Play, and T-Mobile have established dominant positions in Poland, while new entrants face two key barriers: exceptionally strong downward pressure on mobile pricing and customer inertia in switching operators. However, Fonia’s founders, Avi Magid and Dominik Karbowski, believe in a fundamental transformation of the market.