Polkomtel kick starts its 3G system

Polkomtel, the operator of the Plus GSM mobile phone network, launched its commercial 3G services yesterday. "We are the first to offer these on the Polish market. We have opened a new chapter in telecommunications," said Polkomtel's president Jarosław Pachowski. Unlike Era, which offers only test data transmission services, Plus GSM has offered its clients both data transmission and voice and video-voice services. The operator will not charge additional fees for using the 3G network. Plus GSM offers three mobile phone sets which enable the user to use the 3G network, the prices of which begin at zł.1,000. For the time being the 3G services are only available in Warsaw, but the license agreement obliges the operator to expend the network so that it covers 20% of the population by the end 2007. "I can assure that we will fulfill this minimum requirement much earlier," declared Pachowski. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1,8; Parkiet, p. 5) E.B.