Raiffeisen coupled with two state giants want UMTS

Raiffeisen coupled with two state giants want UMTS Raiffeisen Bank of Austria plans to team up with two Polish state-owned financial institutions, Bank Gospodarki Zywnosciowej (BGZ) and Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen (PZU), to apply for a third-generation UMTS mobile telecom license. According to a Puls Biznesu source, the three have created the framework of a consortium, which needs to be complemented by a telecom operator. Sonera of Finland, Telefonica of Spain, Telenor of Norway, Hutchison, SBC and Vivendi are among foreign operators who are said to be interested in the Polish UMTS auction. According to an anonymous analyst the Raiffeisen-BGZ-PZU consortium would have an advantage because of their knowledge of the Polish market and because both the cooperative bank BGZ and PZU, the largest Polish insurer, are essentially state companies. The Treasury has a 100% stake in BGZ and a 70% stake in PZU. (Puls Biznesu, page 6)