TPSA reports disappointing first quarter customer figures

Telekomunikacja Polska SA (TPSA) signed up just 72,000 new customers in the first quarter of this year, half as many as in the same period of last year, as mobile operators continue to make inroads into the telecom giant's market share. The reduced growth is particularly worrying for the company, since it comes at a time when the Polish telecommunications market is still one of the most underdeveloped in Europe, with a penetration rate of just 28%. In 1998, TPSA signed up over one million new subscribers, and this year it is aiming for 600,000. Austrian investment bank CAIB, however, questions this figure. In its latest report, CAIB suggests that TPSA will attract 460,000 new customers this year, and just 420,000 in 2002. Market analysts believe that customers are being put off by TPSA's recent price increases. Another reason for the disappointing results is the aggressive marketing campaign being conducted by mobile telecom firms, who have lowered their subscription charges and are offering very inexpensive telephones. For many people, using a mobile phone has become a cheaper alternative to TPSA, after it raised its monthly subscription rates by 40% in May. CAIB has recently upped its forecast for mobile telephone use, predicting that next year there will be 40 mobile phones per 100 people in Poland, while by the year 2003 the figure will have risen to 47. (Gazeta Wyborcza, June 16-17, p. 26) T.J.