Tele2 enters Poland's long distance phone service market

Tele2 Polska, a subsidiary of Sweden's Tele2 AB which offers VoIP services, was granted a license on Friday from the Telecommunicatons Regulatory Office (URT) to provide long-distance phone services, among other things. Tele2, which is part of a larger pan-European network, has been granted a telephone prefix and has joined the likes of Netia, NOM and Energis in providing services competitive to those of national monopolist Telekomunikacja Polska (TPSA). Frederik Persson, Tele2 Polska president, told Prawo i Gospodarka he hopes Tele2 will be able to provide long-distance domestic services by mid-year. "We are currently in talks with TPSA regarding access to connection points," he said, adding that Tele2's services will be based both on traditional technology as well as on VoIP. Tele2 will also enter the market for international calls, but only after TPSA's monopoly on that service ends next year. (Prawo i Gospodarka, March 23-24, p. 3) M.T.K.