ALLOCATION OF FIXED TELEPHONY LICENCE CONFIRMED

ZAGREB, Oct 17 (Hina) - Four of the seven members of the Croatian Telecommunications Council decided at a session on Tuesday, October 14, to grant a fixed telephony operation licence to the Croatian company Divan d.o.o., which is comprised of Croatia's Ingra company, the U.S. "New World Capital Corporation", which invested capital in the project, and "Lucent" company as a technological partner. #L# This was stated at a news conference on Friday by the chairman of the Telecommunications Council, Zeljko Debanic, who dismissed accusations that the decision was made in secret. Debanic said the decision to grant the licence was in line with legal regulations and was of an administrative nature, as under the new law on telecommunications, there is no requirement to invite bids for the second fixed telephony operation licence, but the licence is granted on the basis of the submitted request. Asked to comment on Prime Minister Ivica Racan's statement that the government would not confirm the Council's decision, Debanic said that Racan was misinformed and reiterated that the Council had informed the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Communications and Minister Roland Zuvanic about the submitted bid on time, in July this year. Debanic would not speak in detail about the Divan company, but only stated that it had met all the requirements and accepted the price of 40 million kuna (for the licence) as well as the requirement to make 50 million euros worth of investments in the next four years. He added that the decision on allocating the licence for the second fixed telephony operator had still not been issued in writing and that this would be done by the end of this month, when the Divan company would be officially informed of this as well. Debanic also said that the decision could not be annulled since Divan's offer met all conditions. (hina) rml sb