The Czech Telecommunications Office (CTU) will allow Cesky Telecom to raise its end-user telecom prices by up to 3.7% in 2002 (vs. an 0.8% increase this year). This figure refers to a basket of prices; many individual prices will be reduced, e.g., local-call tariffs will be reduced and long-distance prices will very likely be reduced too. At the same time, according to MFDnes newspaper, the CTU will allow an increase in the standard monthly fee, from CZK 175/225 up to CZK 300 per month. This suggests a greater potential increase than we have had in our Cesky Telecom model (CZK 265), i.e., it represents good news for the company (Cesky Telecom needs to offset falling call revenues with an increase in subscription revenues). Cesky Telecom has two weeks to submit a proposal regarding individual prices to the regulator.
(Ondrej Datka)