TPSA and NOM finally sign deal, Tele2 enters the pitch

Based on an agreement signed yesterday between Poland's largest telecom operator TPSA and its competitor, independent telecom provider NOM, the latter will have to resign from directly competing in the field of domestic long-distance (DLD) services. The deal marks an end to a battle which started last year over the issue of how to bill clients. NOM will finally be able to get the zl. 200 million their clients owe them. However, it will have to give up its "call by call" services, i.e. services based on prefix assignation. "The law is constructed in such a way that we had to accept this solution. Our hopes for growth are tied to a merger with Tel-Energo," said Marcin Gruszka, NOM's spokesman. Where NOM has to leave, pan-Euro pean telecom Tele2 wants to pick up in the field of DLD services. "We do not treat TPSA as an enemy but a partner. We have also leant from the disputes between TPSA and other DLD operators," said Fredrink de Lerigon, Tele2 Polska president. (Puls Biznesu, p. 8) M.T.K.