Czech IT Minister Vladimir Mlynar repeated yesterday that he would support the sale of the state's 51% state stake to a single strategic investor as this would ensure the company’s long-term perspectives. Source: Bloomberg. Please note that the Ministry of Finance should consider the advisor's privatization form recommendation on October 22 while the Cabinet should make the final decision in mid-November. Given the recent comments from the PM and deputy PM together with the government's counting on the privatization proceeds from CT for the 2005 budget, we still see the odds moving towards a capital market transaction.
Separately, CT reported that it has over 60 thousand ADSL customers (almost double the number at the end of 1H04) and over 13 thousand customers using Eurotel's CDMA high-speed Internet connection. We see the uptake rate of ADSL as positive given the fact that Internet and data services are one of the few fixed-line growth areas.
Tomáš Gatěk, Patria Finance