Telephone bills not getting paid
Independent telephone operators having been paying installment fees for their concessions for some time but now they are demanding refunds. Unfortunately in true bureaucratic style no-one is taking responsibility. Both the telephone watchdog,the URT, and the economy ministry argue that it is the job of the other party to take care of such matters.
Netia, Telefonia Lokalna and El-Net have over PLN430m outstanding and the next installment is due in November.
The operators say that they should not pay for the concessions as as from next year any-one can get a concession for much less than they paid. Therefore they want to negotiate on changing the terms of the concessions, cancelling future installments, getting refunds or reductions in charges.
The cost of these concessions comes to well in excess of PLN1bn.
The matter of responsibility could be decided by Premier Jerzy Buzek although it could be so complicated that he is avoiding making a decision and in couple of weeks it will not be his problem.
The problem will not end if a solution is found for the fixed line operators. PTC, operator of the Era GSM cellular system, wants to have its concession payment reduced from EUR100.3m to around EUR50m.
The operators have little time in which to decide what to do especially as no-one in the government wants to make a decision. At the end of November the concession installment bills will be falling into their letterboxes. El-Net will have to find EUR38m, Netia EUR33m and Telefonia Lokalna EUR40m.
Netia still has EUR104m of its concession fees to pay, TL EUR157m and El-Net EUR112m. For all of these companies these are collosal sums. The current state of Netia is no secret with its stock price having lost 95 percent in the past year. Financially El-Net and Telefonia Lokalna cannot be much better. No doubt the government will have no problem finding the person responsible for demanding money and if these companies are forced to pay then this could be the end for them.
If they survive long enough then Netia, Telefonia Lokalna and El-Net are prepared to take this matter to the constitutional court. The application has already been prepared.
If the court rules that the concession payments were unconstitutional then the treasury may have to find around PLN3bn in refunds.
The operators would accept a deal whereby they did not pay for the concession but were obliged to invest a certain sum in infrastructure. The operators claim that this is better for the treasury as it means that the treasury would earn more money from taxes paid by the companies which are then able to connect more subscribers.