Telecom giants to refuse euro 400m payment for licenses

Poland's three biggest independent telecom operators, Netia, El-Net and Telefonia Lokalna, will submit their request to the Telecoms Minister for annulment of the licenses granted for rendering telecom services on local and long-distance markets, refusing to pay a combined euro 400 million in installments and demanding refunds of the amount they have paid thus far. Doubts on the part of the independent operators about the sincerity of the government's intentions to create the basis for an information society seem to be confirmed by the introduction of liberalized telecommunications on January 1, 2002, according to which any company can become an operator upon payment of euro 2,500 for permission. Furthermore, some operators have failed to paying their license installment fees yet received no penalty, and state monopoly Telekomunikacja Polska S.A. (TPSA) did not have to make any license payments whatsoever. (Puls Biznesu, p. 8) M.T.