Deutsche Telekom AG's Polish unit Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa will in June replace its popular 16-year-old brand Era with T-Mobile, after the German firm settled a decade-long ownership struggle over the Polish business.

The cost of the rebranding will be around 100 unsecured loans million zlotys ($36.3 million), PTC Chief Executive Miroslav Rakowski told a press conference Thursday.

Deutsche Telekom was among the founding shareholders of PTC in 1995 and the main supplier of technology for the mobile firm. The company fought for more than a decade with other PTC shareholders, mainly Vivendi AS, for a 48% stake in PTC. The battle was settled late last year and Deutsche Telekom has been PTC's undisputed sole owner since January 2011.

In its first years, PTC was one of three operators Poland licensed to operate GSM networks and was initially the market leader. At the end of the first quarter, it had a market share by sales of around 28% and was in third place behind the other two operators initially licensed--France Telecom unit Telekomunikacja Polska SA and Polkomtel, held by Polish state-controlled firms and Vodafone Group PLC.

PTC's revenue last year fell 3.4% to about PLN7.3 billion bad credit loans The company expects its revenue this year to fall by up to 2%, Rakowski said.

"The market is very difficult. It's a normal European market where not everything's going up," Rakowski said.
The company's old brand has the highest recognition, at 28%, among telecommunication brands in Poland, Rakowski said, but T-Mobile was recently ranked at the 19th place in Millward Brown's ranking of the world's most valuable brands.

PTC will keep its popular pre-paid subbrands Tak-Tak and Heyah, he added.