Netia to provide telecom services in Warsaw shortly

Netia S.A., Poland's second largest telecom operator, will begin providing local services in the Warsaw region within one or two months, after reaching an agreement with Telekomunikacja Polska S.A. (TP S.A.) on interconnection points. Netia will now have less than a year to build up a subscriber network in the capital before the market is fully liberalized, which happens on Jan. 1, 2002. The company was awarded the Warsaw region license last June, paying euro 105 million, but negotiations with TP S.A. took half a year to complete. Analysts say that it is unlikely new operators will enter the market as soon as it is fully open to competition. After obtaining permits and signing interconnection agreements, they are likely to be ready at the end of 2002, said Krzysztof Skoczyński, CDM Pekao S.A. analyst. This would mean the license fee Netia obtained would give it a head-start of roughly two years over future entrants. For the time being, on the Warsaw market Netia will compete against TP SA and Elektrim subsidiary El-Net. (Puls Biznesu, p.5, Rzeczpospolita, p.B4) T.J.