Wasacz likely to see TPSA sale through
Despite Treasury Minister Emil Wasacz's comments last Wednesday that the deal to sell a 35% stake in national telecom firm Telekomunikacja Polska (TPSA) for $4 billion would be signed within two weeks, his ministry remained tight-lipped about further details.
Agnieszka Dluska of the Treasury Ministry's press office confirmed the comments Wasacz made to a national radio station, but said it was the official view of the ministry that settling the deal with the strategic investor a consortium of France Telecom and Kulczyk Holding could take until the end of July.
She added that negotiations were proceeding as normal, but no details about the agreement were available. "This is an important company for the Polish economy, so we can't give much information," she said.
But the privatization of TPSA the most lucrative partial sell-off of a state company this year could be Wasacz's last. The minister has come under fire in recent weeks from both opposition parliamentarians and politicians from his own Solidarity Election Action (AWS) party, who have called for his resignation or outright removal. The minister's critics have accused him of selling state assets for less than their value and of botching the privatization of insurer Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen (PZU). The final decision to remove Wasacz rests with Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek, Dluska said.
The completion of the second round of the telecom operator's privatization would be a sweet victory for France Telecom in its quest for a chunk of TPSA. In December 1999, the Treasury Ministry held the first tender to sell 25-35% of the company to a strategic investor. But when France Telecom, the lone bidder, offered a price that was below the ministry's expectations, the sale was cancelled.
In the midst of the present sell-off, TPSA introduced new tariffs for its domestic long-distance (DLD) and local calling services as of July 1.
A company news statement said that rebalancing the tariffs was "a logical consequence and an indispensable element of the liberalization of the telecommunications market in Poland." It also said the tariff rebalancing was "based on connecting the price of the service with the cost of its production." Local telecom analysts said the price adjustments were necessary for TPSA to bring its tariffs closer to the rates charged in Western Europe where the costs of local and DLD calls are almost the same. In Poland, DLD calls are considerably higher. With the new price adjustment, the ratio of the cost of DLD vs. local calls is now 5.8 to 1, according to Bob Creamer, a telecom analyst at Raiffeisen Capital & Investment Polska. Internationally, the ratio of the cost of DLD vs. local calls is 3.2 to 3.5, he said. Creamer added that TPSA wants the ratio to eventually be 4.5 to 1, so customers can expect to see more tariff adjustments during the second half of the year.
As of July 1, TPSA increased its fee for local calls from zl. 0.33 to zl. 0.35 per each three-minute pulse. The company lowered its DLD rates between calling points more than 100 kilometers apart from zl. 0.78 to zl. 0.68 per three-minute pulse during peak calling hours, Monday through Friday. On Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, the peak-hour rate dropped from zl. 0.59 to zl. 0.51 per pulse. During off-peak hours, from 6 p.m.-8 a.m., DLD calling rates dropped from zl. 0.39 to zl. 0.34.
TPSA also increased its basic telephone subscription fees from zl. 24.40 to zl. 30.50 a month.
From July 1-Aug. 31, TPSA is offering a promotion for six-minute impulses instead of the standard three-minute intervals during off-peak calling hours on Monday through Friday from 6 p.m.-10 p.m. and on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 8 a.m.-10 p.m. On these days, customers will pay zl. 0.35 for each six-minute impulse. The special offer was started to "meet the needs of internet users whose connection to the internet lasts longer than a typical call," the company said.
As a result of TPSA's price changes, independent operator Netia, which uses the national operator's network in some of its service areas, also adjusted its tariffs for local and DLD calls according to the new pay scale.
TPSA will continue to lower its rates for DLD calls now that Netia has started offering DLD service, telecom analysts said.
