Deputy Finance Minister E. Janota said he expects that at least half of the budgeted UMTS revenues (CZK 20 bil.) will be received this year. This might suggest that the cellular operators (Cesky Telecom’s Eurotel and Ceske radiokomunikace’s RadioMobil) so far have not been able to negotiate better payment schedule (they have reportedly asked for a 20-year payment period) in return for accepting the government’s CZK 6.7 bil. fixed price for each license. However, we do not think that the negotiations have been concluded, i.e., we see this as neutral news.
(Ondrej Datka)