Domestic operators claim Polish 3G licences

Three domestic operators in Poland have been granted licences in the countries third generation mobile phone allocation, after the auction was cancelled yesterday.

Centertel, PolKontel and Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa (PTC), will each pay E650m (£400m) for the licences, which will become operational on 1 January 2003. The companies are requried to pay 40 per cent of the balance next year. Seven operators were expected to tender bids for five licences, but foreign firms like Spanish operator Telefonica Moviles may have been deterred from investing by other bidders pulling out, and rumours of conflict between the state treasury and foreign strategic investor Eureko. The country's telecom regulator, taking control as of next year, must now decide when to auction a fourth licence. Tomasz Szyszko, Polish communications minister, has already scrapped the fifth licence as a goodwill gesture.