Gov't forwards telecom amendment

The amendment to the telecommunications law, which corrects defects in current legislation and further evens out the playing field for independent operators, will be presented to Parliament this week, Krzysztof Heller, the deputy infrastructure minister, told the WBJ. Heller, who said that the amendment's technical changes would "have a big influence on the economy of the (telecom) business," expects the amendment to be signed into law before the end of the year. He added that consumers would indirectly benefit from the legal changes since increased competition among providers would bring lower service charges.

The amendment consists of 63 paragraphs, clarifying or changing certain aspects of the law, including: " Local-loop regulations that allow alternative providers to rent the dominant operator's local network lines to reach residential and business clients " The conditions for interconnections between different networks " The definition of what constitutes a significant market position for operators " Number portability for clients who change providers " Operators' state security obligations

Another amendment to the telecom law must be passed by the end of 2003 to bring the Polish act into conformity with new telecom directives issued by the European Union last spring, Heller said. Poland must adopt these new rules before it joins the EU in 2004. Poland's telecom law, which took effect on Jan. 1, 2001, has come under fire from some independent operators who have criticized its omissions and loopholes that former monopolist Telekomunikacja Polska (TPSA) has exploited at their expense. Heller said that while the amendment clears up many of the ambiguous areas, the independent telecom regulator (URTiP) must enforce the legislation. The largest operators have cited unstable or incoherent state policy, including a flawed regulatory environment and the lack of ordinances accompanying the telecommunications law, as the main barrier to the development of the country's telecom market, according to a survey conducted last spring by Polish Market Review, a research firm. The operators said that the poor financial situation of alternative operators, excessive costs for licenses for telephone services, a slowdown in investments, TPSA's continued monopoly and the weak economy were other major obstacles to the market's development.