TPSA struggles with finding lost 399 million minutes

Telekomunikacja Polska SA (TPSA) announced plans to employ an independent auditor to assess the costs of the services it provides. This is necessary as the company needs to establish the prices for its services according to the cost structure set out in the law. In order for the audit to be credible, the data has to be reliable. However, last week the company made changes to its 2001 data concerning the number of minutes users spent on the phone. It turned out there were 399 million more minutes more than was recorded. The amendments also revealed that in the fourth quarter of 2001 the total number of connections was 6.5% less than earlier anticipated, while local connections were 10.8% lower, and calls to mobile phones fell by 8%. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B4) A.K.