The Czech energy giant ČEZ is looking for a partner with whom to compete for the role of the fourth telecom operator in the country. The government has been unsuccessfully trying to hold a tender that would add another operator to the uncompetitive mix the country now has to put up with. Czechs pay among the most in Europe for mobile data and in terms of connectivity, a new study revealed that the country had slipped from 19th to 24th place in Europe, ahead of only Croatia, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Greece. Michal Čupa, the former general director of Czech Telecom, warns that ČEZ might not be the saviour Czechs are looking for. “It doesn’t seem to me that it’s the type of player that would bring about a breakthrough in pricing. Among other things, we pay ČEZ the fifth highest prices in Europe for electricity.” Čupa said high mobile data prices in the Czech Republic are caused by a weak regulator who has already changed the conditions for tender for a new operator three times. “It looks more like a banana republic than a managed process,” he told SeznamZpravy. “It’s untransparent and unpredictable.”
