Swisscom rumored to be buying Vivendi's stake in PTC

According to undisclosed sources, Swiss telecom company Swisscom has begun preliminary talks with Vivendi to acquire its stake in Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa (PTC), owner of Era GSM, Central Europe's biggest mobile phone network. If the rumors prove well-founded, Elektrim may also have the possibility of selling some of its shares in the Era network. The two companies own in total 51% of Era. Swisscom plans to spend as much as zl. 25 billion on investments in Europe. "We are only interested in companies with good financial standing. If we find interesting companies, we will certainly use the situation," said Pia Rogers of Swisscom. Yesterday, Elektrim p resident Maciej Radziwill denied any potential talks with Swisscom. There are two other options for Swisscom. France Telecom - the sector investor in fixed-line operator Telekomunikacja Polska S. A. - is also looking for savings and may be interested in selling its stake. "We do not have to buy mobile operators, as we are also interested in fixed-line," said Pia Rogers. The third option for Swisscom might be acquiring shares in Krajowa Grupa Telekomunikacyjna, a new venture which will be made up of independent telecom operators. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 5) M.M.