User beware: phone booth evolution
Telephone booths are the latest mark left by telephone operator Netia Telekom, which has been circling Warsaw buying up local licenses and preparing to bid for the third telecom license in the capital city.
Since last year, Netia has been planting phone booths in outlying towns such as Piaseczno, Jozefow, Otwock, Nowy Dwor Mazowiecki, Modlin and Warka.
Agata Wodnicka, a Piaseczno resident, passed by the Toyota retail center in this little town near Warsaw last Wednesday. She wasn't even aware that a Netia telecom phone box is located near her house next to two TPSA phone boxes.
"I didn't even notice Netia's phone box before, and as I see, there is competition here right now and that is very good," Wodnicka said. "But I am a little bit disappointed that it's for coins; I would prefer tokens."
And competition in the telecom sector is about to gear up in Warsaw. Presently, there are two telecom licenses to operate phone service in the lucrative capital city market. Monopolist Telekomunikacja Polska (TPSA) is the kingpin, but last year Elektrim subsidiary El-Net won its bid for a license and plans to roll out service within a month. Then, in late fall, the Communications Ministry announced plans to open a tender for a third operator license in the city. So far at least four firms have picked up tender packets, among them are Telefonia Lokalna, Poland Telekom Operators, cable operator Polska Telewizja Kablowa (PTK owned by United Pan-Europe Communications) and Netia. Bids are due by Feb. 7 and an operator chosen by mid-year, according to the ministry.
Netia Telekom is second only to TPSA in the ranking of the nation's largest fixed-line phone operators. Netia Telekom, set up in 1996 by RP Telekom and Swedish telecom giant Telia, boasts 255,000 subscribers with services available to residents in about one-third of the country. Netia has pursued a strategy building out local phone services in cities nationwide. Circling Warsaw with new phone booths is only the most recent sign of its march to be a major player in the sector.
So far, Netia has installed slightly less than 100 phone booths on the city's outskirts, about half of the estimated number planned this year. Nationwide, the phone company has planted almost 1,200 booths on the road to a year-end target of 4,000. But the build out has stalled temporarily as the company searches for a phone supplier and a decision is expected in the near future, Netia said.
Netia's pay phone plan calls for installing phones that receive both coins and electronic cards. That setup came after a survey of phone users in Torun and the coastal area last year. In July 1999, Netia installed 200 phone boxes in Torun and 100 on the Baltic coast that take coins and electronic cards. Netia stopped thecard service at the end of the year, but plans a rollout beginning in April after a supplier has been chosen.
But the grand plan may leave users scratching their foreheads at phone booths. TPSA's and Netia's electronic phone cards are not compatible and negotiations between these major players are not in the offing, according to the companies. That means, for example, that pay phone users in the greater Warsaw area, not to mention other cities, will likely have to carry at least two smart cards for the convenience of dialing at a streetside booth. That number for Warsaw residents could increase to a minimum of three as Elektrim rolls into the pay phone market. So far, however, the recent Warsaw license winner is focused on the more lucrative subscriber market.
Elektrim subsidiary El-Net is pushing to bring in 50,000 subscribers in Warsaw this year and any plans to build out public pay phones, although required under the license terms, must wait, the company said.
"We are planning to deprive TPSA of 30% of its (Warsaw subscriber) market within these couple of years," said Sebastian Bartosik, press relations officer with Elektrim Telekomunikacja, which oversees El-Net.
TPSA appeared unruffled. "Let the competition begin," said Piotr Zabedeusz, TPSA's spokesman.
And let the smart-card buyer beware.
