New PHARE telecommunications initiative The European Commission has announced an ECU 5.6 million programme for training staff in Central and Eastern Europe to run a modernized telecommunications sector. The ten beneficiary countries - Poland, Hungary, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Alba... The European Commission has announced an ECU 5.6 million programme for training staff in Central and Eastern Europe to run a modernized telecommunications sector. The ten beneficiary countries - Poland, Hungary, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Latvia and Lithuania - will receive telecommunications training under an integrated programme which will last until mid-1995. The objective is to enable Central and Eastern countries to bring their telecommunications systems up to EU standards and to create a more efficient telecommunications network across the whole of Europe. This initiative, launched under the EU's PHARE programme of aid and assistance to Central and Eastern Europe, was opened on 21 February at the Hungarian telecom company's management training centre at Lake Balaton, Hungary. Over 200 projects will take place in the ten countries. The programme will be coordinated on behalf of the European Commission by Development Dynamics Limited (DDL), a UK telecommunications training consultancy. Six areas have been identified as priorities 1) Regulation: Independent regulatory bodies will be set up to improve telecoms legislation and licence conditions and will also set quality and performance standards for operators and install monitor arrangements, as well as improve policy on tariffs. 2) Management: National operators will be trained to manage the sector, including the production of strategic and business plans, as well as plans to increase profitability. 3) Human resources: The aim is to help companies develop their own staffing plan, focusing on conditions for remuneration and promotion, as well as developing staff training strategies. 4) Marketing: Market research will be carried out in key customer areas and will be followed by setting up effective management accounts. 5) New technology telecoms networks: The objective will be to identify and tackle specific problems which impede the performance and reliability of telecoms networks, and to adapt the networks to handle volume traffic. 6) Managing computer systems in telecommunications: A strategy will be developed to cater for more sophisticated forms of telecoms service, as well as procedures for controlling spending on new technology. Countries Albania, Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Sierra Leone
