URT sends mixed signals to mobile phone firms
By : Roseanne Gerin
Poland's telecom industry watchdog advised the country's three mobile phone operators last week to work together to finance the costs of building their third-generation mobile networks.
Marek Rusin, deputy director of the Telecommunications Regulatory Office (URT), said his agency was trying to convince mobile operators Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa (PTC) (http://www.eragsm.pl), PTK Centertel (http://www.idea.pl) and Polkomtel (http://www.plusgsm.pl) to share the costs of constructing their third-generation, or universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) networks, according to a local press report.
But the mobile operators indicated they were baffled as to why Rusin made the comment without anyone from the URT speaking to the operators themselves.
"The issue is a little overemphasized," said Leszek Kaminski, the spokesman of Polkomtel. "It's not on the level of a formal move, just a declaration."
Marek Rusin was not available for comment.
Anna Wolek, the director of PTC's public relations department, said she did not know why Rusin made the comment, especially since URT President Marek Zdrojewski was on vacation last week.
"Mobile operators cooperate with each other when necessary, but you have three different ones, and it's too early to discuss the (UMTS) network now," she said. "We don't know what Mr. Rusin had in mind."
The companies said they have not started talks with each other about sharing construction costs or third-generation operating networks.
Jacek Kalinowski, the spokesman of Centertel, was also not available for comment.
Jacek Strzalkowski, the URT's spokesman, said in a written response that the local press report did not state the opinion of the URT, but was a compilation of Rusin's comments, the mobile operators' opinions and a market analysis.
"Joint efforts in building the (UMTS) network is only one of (the) possible solutions that has not been officially communicated to the operators and is not binding for them," he said. "URT is only interested in that Poland is not late (with) the introduction of possible new technologies in comparison with other countries."
Third-generation technology is not yet commercially available anywhere, although it's now being tested in Japan. Because the technology is still largely unknown, Poland's mobile operators have not yet begun the process of planning their UMTS networks since third-generation technology and costs remain question marks.
The three mobile operators each paid O650 million for their UMTS licenses last December. The terms of the concession agreements require the operators to build their UMTS networks by 2004, although the date is likely to be pushed forward.
"We don't know yet what type of equipment to use with UMTS," Kaminski said. "There are quite a number of technical issues involved so we can't say when we're (going) to start."
