Parliament considers draft legislation to break up TPSA

MPs campaigning for the fragmentation of TPSA, which currently enjoys a a 95 % market share in stationary telephony, today present Parliament with draft amendments to the current Telecommunications Law. The draft aims to split TPSA into five different entities: local telephony, mobile telephony, long distance connections and international connections. The division is planned for January 1, 2002, pending a decision of the Telecommunication Regulation Office (URT) on whether the telecoms giant is a dominant entity on the telecommunications market. However, such decision may be delayed by the TPSA's recent appeal to the Anti-Monopoly court against its classification as a dominant entity by the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK). In its session, Parliament will have to take into account the fact that TPSA's strategic investor France Telecom, may consider such changes to the law as a violation of the thus-far secret privatization agreement. The OECD report of May 2001 demands an immediate review of TPSA.'s monopoly in international coonnections, and criticizes the State Treasury for prolonging the company's break-up. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B1, Puls Biznesu, p.3) P. W.