ENGLEWOOD, Colo.-U S West International said the number of customers served through its wireless joint ventures in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia has grown from fewer than half a million to more than 1 million in the last nine months.
U S West said the growth was fueled by the introduction of Global System for Mobile communications services and competitive pricing in those markets. Last September, U S West’s joint venture, Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa, launched Poland’s first GSM service, called Era GSM. The carrier signed up 7,000 customers in the first week of service and currently serves about 258,000 customers, said U S West.
In the Czech Republic, EuroTel Praha, of which U S West holds about 25 percent, launched GSM service in July 1996, and now serves 217,000 digital customers and 65,000 analog customers. U S West’s venture in Hungary, Westel 900, offers GSM service to complement its analog service. Its total number of subscribers is 419,000, growing by more than 350,000 in the last year.
EuroTel Bratislava, U S West’s Slovakian joint venture, added GSM service earlier this year with its analog service and has doubled its total customer base to service 78,000 customers.
