.Mobile Phone companies resent preference given to market newc

Mobile operators Centertel, Era,and Plus say they may withdraw from the UMTS tender because of yesterday's decision by the Telecommunications Ministry to issue five UMTS licenses worth euro 650 million each. The UMTS decision and its new domestic roaming policy give preference to entities not yet present on the Polish mobile phone market. The Ministry decided the new operators may be granted permission to use the existing GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) net if by the end of 2002 their range will cover all cities with more than 400,000 inhabitants. " We wanted the roaming policy to be tightened, but that didn't happen. The case is the same with the number and price of UMTS licenses. We will purchase the tender documents, but I don't now whether we will take part in the contest. The decision will be made by our shareholders," said Robert Niczewski, Era GSM spokesman. According to analysts, Centertel, Plus and Era can withdraw from the tender, but they would risk the loss of their places to other operators. (Puls Biznezu, p. 9