Mobile phone operators seek one-year postponement of UMTS launch
At a meeting yesterday with head of the Telecommunications Regulatory Office
(URT) Marek Zdrojewski, Poland's three mobile phone operators, PTC,
Polkomtel and Centertel, sought a one-year delay to the launch of the third
generation UMTS service. A Puls Biznesu report suggests that the URT is
likely to agree to the postponement, which would mean that commercial use of
the new technology would not be possible in Poland until the beginning of
2004 at the earliest. The operators have been forced to seek more time
because of delays in developing 3G equipment and in launching wireless data
transmission technology (GPRS). "It is almost certain that the launch of
UMTS worldwide will not be on time, and the delay might be very long," said
analyst with SG Securities, Dorota Ubysz. When Poland's UMTS licenses were
awarded on December 20, 2000, the three companies all promised to have the
new service operational in 2003. (Puls Biznesu, p. 4) M.T.
