Contactel, the Internet and telecom service provider 50% owned by Ceske radiokomunikace, said it might not offer telephony services to households as of July 1, 2002, unless the Czech Telecommunications Office changes its policy on interconnection prices. As of July 2002, fixed-line customers of Cesky Telecom (the former monopoly) will have choice of operator on a per-call basis. Contactel (and other operators) consider the cost of connecting onto Cesky Telecom’s fixed-line network as too high, and may decide to compete only for corporate customers’ voice traffic. Given that we have considered call-by-call a good opportunity for Contactel and other competitors to grab more market share and boost performance, the above is somewhat negative news, but we do not think the information will have an impact on Ceske radiokomunikace’s stock price.
(Ondrej Datka)