Cesky Telecom to enter market via takeover?

State-owned Czech telecommunication company Cesky Telecom (CT) yesterday received a license to provide telecom services in Slovakia and has become the first operator among EU candidate countries that has entered a foreign market. Analysts are now wondering where the company will find the capital to expand in times when many telecom companies are struggling to survive. "Cesky Telecom did not engage in the investment race during the teleco mmunication boom," explained Pavel Jiruousek from CT. This means the o perator has manageable debts. By the end of the year it plans to start operations in Budapest and Warsaw and by mid-2003 open offices in Vienna and Frankfurt. "It will not construct its own network because this entails a costly investment which means a long return period. The company is more likely to take over an existing company like Telefonia Dialog or Netia. Poland is a huge market and there is room for another big player," said Radoslaw Solan from BDM PKO BP. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 12) M.M.