Unprecedent mobilization of Play-Iliad's teams for our Ukrainian neighbours

Europe, which we all thought was at peace, is not. War is raging in Ukraine.

And Europe means a lot to Iliad. We are, as I’ve been saying repeatedly over the last few months, a European group. European, because we operate in three major countries that have made their mark on European history and culture: Poland, Italy and France. European, because over 43 million EU citizens (1 EU citizen in 10!) have entrusted us for their connectivity. European, because our 15,000 employees include all nationalities from Europe – and the rest of the world. And European, because Iliad?and its mission are, I dare say it, in phase with European goals: facilitating communication between people, freeing up access to technology, enabling the transmission of information and knowledge – all of which help bring people together and consolidate the economic, cultural and human links that exist between them.

?This war in Ukraine clearly shows the all-important role of the telecoms industry.?Telecoms form the backbone that supports the Ukrainians in communicating between themselves?and with the rest of the world, to?have a way to fight back. These links support them in holding out. And also telecoms enable that the truth is being shown in its full light. Despite the crushing battles on the ground, despite the encirclement of cities and the sieges looming ahead, the world and the international community cannot ignore what is happening in Ukraine today.

As this terrible situation unfolds, I want to extend my thanks to our teams at Play, our Polish operator for their outpouring of solidarity towards their neighbors – our neighbors – in Ukraine.

Right from the very first hours of the conflict, Play’s people rallied together to help the men and women who are having to flee their country in such tragic circumstances. And in doing so you have truly demonstrated Play’s fundamental values.

• Play was the first Polish operator to offer free calls and mobile data to all Ukrainians living or arriving in Poland. In record time we adapted our messages and support functions to use the Cyrillic Ukrainian alphabet.
• Over 100 Play employees volunteered to go to the refugee welcome points at the Polish-Ukrainian border and in railway stations.
• On Sunday morning 80,000 SIM cards were handed out to refugees at the border and at all welcome points in Poland. We have upgraded our free packages for Ukrainians with unlimited calls and SMS to all Ukrainian mobile networks, 120 minutes to mobile and fixed numbers in Poland and 10 GB data transmission.
• Our Network teams are working relentlessly to increase our network capacity and deal with the traffic increase. Our IT teams are doing the same to upgrade our offers to Ukrainians and secure our platforms.
• To date, more than 230,000 Ukrainians in Poland are able to communicate free of charge thanks to Play.

We are also showing our solidarity through our commercial offerings. All communications to Ukraine are now free of charge from Iliad Italia in Italy and Free in France. Iliad has also expressed its solidarity by financing satellite communication equipments for Ukrainian citizens and businesses.

Thank you to all PLAYers

Thomas

Thomas REYNAUD

ILIAD- CEO