Separately and as expected the government yesterday approved the draft of a new telecommunications law, which should come into effect in January 2005. This law would require mobile operators to enable mobile number portability (MNP) probably as of mid-2005. Mobile operators oppose the deadline on technical grounds. The introduction of MNP would lead to increased short-term CAPEX and, more importantly, would put pressure on operating margins across the sector due to higher customer retention costs and reductions in effective tariffs.
Tomáš Gatěk