TPSA says $8 billion needed to increase standards; Ministry says $4 billion

Currently, 19.3% of Polish homes have a telephone, against 40% in the average European Union (EU) country. According to Rzeczpospolita, during the EuroForum conference on the transformation of the Polish telecommunication sector, deputy Telecommunications Minister Jaroslaw Okragly said, "We need to invest about $4 billion in Polish telecommunications to reach European standards." By the end of 2000, TPSA wants to install about 3.2 million telephones and modernize 1.3 million telephone lines. Stanislawski said, "Soon, TPSA will invest about zl. 15.7 billion in increasing quality of connections and launching new services." (Prawo i Gospodarka, page 4, Rzeczposplita, page 10)