[Info-tech] Monaco link for phones (Financial Times, November 30 1999) (fwd)

[Mentor Cana]

Hello,

Seems like UNMIK is totally ignoring Kosova Telecom disagreement
with the choice of Alacatel???

later,
Mentor
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http://www.ft.com/hippocampus/q2eb75e.htm

November 30 1999

KOSOVO: Monaco link for phones

By Kevin Done, East Europe Correspondent

International callers to Kosovo's planned mobile telephone network are
likely to find themselves dialling Monaco for a connection under a
scheme being formulated by United Nations officials in Pristina.
     The use of the Monaco code is part of a package solution offered by
Alcatel, the French telecommunications equipment supplier, to overcome
the problems of Kosovo's ill-defined international status.
     The French group has been selected in an international tender to
supply equipment for a mobile phone network in a contract understood to
be worth around DM35m ($18.4m), one of the biggest to be awarded since
the start of the Kosovo reconstruction effort.
     A final contract is expected to be signed in the next two weeks
between Alcatel and PTK, the Post and Telecommunications enterprise in
the territory of Kosovo, with a parallel deal with Monaco Telecom for
services such as roaming, access codes and billing.
     The development of a mobile telecoms network across Kosovo is
urgently needed to overcome the present woeful state of
telecommunications in the province. Nato bombing put out of action much
of the fixed line network.
     International calls are routed via Belgrade, but there are only a
few lines available with a low chance of getting through in the daytime.
     The existing Yugoslav mobile phone network, Mobtel, does not
function outside Pristina and only connects spasmodically with the
outside world.
     The deal, expected to be signed shortly with Monaco Telecom, is
designed to obtain an early start-up with an international access code
and immediate roaming agreements to allow the use of foreign mobile
phones inside Kosovo, says Pascal Copin, UNMIK director for posts and
telecommunications.
     Kosovo lacks the sovereign status needed to qualify for its own
international access code.
     The UN Security Council resolution which established the UN
administration in Kosovo leaves the province within the "sovereignty and
territorial integrity" of Yugoslavia, implying in the telecoms sector
the use of Yugoslavia's 381 access code. Belgrade is likely to seize on
this move as further evidence of its sovereignty being undermined.
     The deal with Monaco would avoid dependence on Belgrade for
international access, however, and opens the prospect of a quick
improvement to Kosovo telecommunications.
     In the first stage the seven main towns and Pristina airport should
be connected to a mobile GSM network within 12 weeks of the contract
being signed and coverage of most of the remaining population should be
provided within 12 months.
     Financing is expected to be provided through supplier credits to be
repaid from revenues generated by the new service.

© Copyright The Financial Times Limited 1999.