Telecom cos. to petition gov't on 3G

Poland's three mobile operators plan to send a written petition to the Infrastructure Ministry this week, urging it to push the country's telecom regulator to grant a one-year delay for the launch of third-generation (3G) mobile service, the companies confirmed last week. Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa (PTC), Polkomtel and PTK Centertel want the launch of 3G mobile service postponed until Jan. 1, 2005, as the handsets and necessary technical infrastructure are still unavailable and will require huge investments. The terms of their UMTS, or universal mobile telecommunications system, licenses specify that they must start offering service between Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2003. The companies estimate the costs for each of their UMTS networks will be $1 billion-$2.7 billion. "There are no handsets, there is no infrastructure and it is impossible that we will start (in 2003) as others have not started in other markets and will have to start later," said Maciej Rogalski, PTC's legal counsel.

The three operators turned to the Infrastructure Ministry after the Telecommunications Regulatory Office (URT), the independent industry watchdog, failed to respond to formal petitions filed last September for a one-year delay. Under administrative court law, the URT had 60 days from the filings to respond. Even though the Infrastructure Ministry has no power to force the URT to issue a decision, the operators believe the weight of the ministry might speed up the process. Jacek Strzałkowski, the URT's spokesman, said he didn't know when his office would issue a decision, but added that it was still "investigating whether the arguments presented in those petitions justify enough of a possible delay." He also said that the URT needed to examine the rollout plans for UMTS in other telecoms markets and the reasons for delays.

UMTS is not yet offered in any other European country. But Rogalski said that the URT told PTC three weeks ago that it would issue a response in the "next few weeks." Another URT press office worker, however, later told the WBJ that a decision would not be issued until after Parliament voted on changes in the URT's responsibilities, currently under debate in the lower house, likely leading to the appointment of a new URT president. Two of the mobile operators - PTC and Polkomtel - did not rule out the possibility of seeking a mandate from an administrative court if the URT continued to put off the decision after the Infrastructure Ministry intervened. Jacek Kalinowski, Centertel's spokesman, did not return phone messages.