Mobile phones to outnumber land lines by end of year

The number of active mobile phones should exceed the number of land lines owned by domestic telecoms operator TPSA no later than the third quarter of this year, estimates Prawo i Gospodarka. According to preliminary data, TPSA had some 10.45 million subscriber lines at the end of December 2001, 200,000 more than the previous year. Year by year the number of new phone lines and subscribers is increasing more slowly. In 1999 the operator obtained more than one million new clients but in 2000 the number was half the 1999 figure. TPSA announced on Friday that it has 383,000 ISDN lines, which enable digital transmission of data, voice and images. (Gazeta Wyborcza, Jan. 12-13, p. 26, Prawo i Gospodarka, Jan. 12-13, p. 3) P.J.