TELECOMMUNICATIONS: OPERATORS WILL NOT START INVESTING AGAIN BEFORE END 2004.

Jorma Ollila, CEO of the world leader in mobile telephony, Nokia, does not expect to see a massive resumption of investments by telecoms operators before the end of 2004, he said in an interview published in the German press on June 30. "I do not expect network operators to be making any major investments over the next 18 months. They will probably not be putting out any positive signals before the end of 2004", he told Handelsblatt. "The general economic situation is creating uncertainty over what the final consumer is willing to spend on new mobile telephone services. So they are holding back on investments", he explained. "Second, many operators have turned in very week balance sheets and management is working on restructuring (...) Third, operators are very...