PARIS-France Telecom announced it has obtained the first Global System for Mobile communications license for a cellular network in Slovakia.
The license was awarded to the SlovTel consortium, led by France Telecom Mobiles International which holds a 35 percent stake in the venture.
Other members of the consortium include a Slovak investment company and several utility companies that already maintain networks of their own and can provide SlovTel with commercial access to business and private customers.
France Telecom said SlovTel will have GSM service in three major cities four months after signing the license and 90 percent of the population will be covered by autumn 1997. Services will be divided into three categories related to the overall duration of calls, ranging from monthly corporate rates including more than 250 minutes of airtime to monthly family rates with 50 minutes.
The consortium plans to invest about $200 million during the next 10 years in developing the system and expects to create as many as 1,000 new jobs. Slovakia has a population of 5.5 million people.
Slovakia came into existence when it and the Czech Republic spun off from the former country of Czechoslovakia Jan. 1, 1993. It claims a landline teledensity of one telephone per 3.9 persons.
