RANKING Prague is now the 55th most expensive city in the world, up from No. 75 in 2004, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit's list, Mladá fronta Dnes reported Aug. 10. Prague surpassed cities such as Seattle and Toronto and now ties with Warsaw and Shanghai. The poll in question reflects prices paid by expatriates rather than the local people.

GAS The Czech Natural Gas Union announced that it expects gas rates to increase 15–25 percent in October as a result of rising world prices. The Energy Regulation Office will reveal its final decision on prices later this month. Experts suggest the increase could have a damaging affect on many households. According to Eurostat data, gas prices in the Czech Republic are lower than the EU average.

MOBILES T-Mobile is now the largest Czech mobile operator in terms of SIM cards, according a company announcement that it had 4.46 million customers as of the end of June. Rival Eurotel registered 4.42 million subscribers. Oskar-Vodafone had 1.9 million SIM cards by the end of June. The overall number of SIM cards on the Czech market reached almost 11 million in a nation of 10.2 million people.

FLIGHT INDUSTRY Czech aircraft producer Aero Vodochody signed its first contract to supply components to the EADS/Airbus group, Aero spokesman Vítezslav Kulich announced. He said the contract is worth hundreds of thousands of euros. Aero will supply subassemblies for Airbus A320 and A340 aircraft. The parts are currently produced primarily in Germany, but Aero plans to move all production to the Czech Republic.

BEER Czech breweries exported a total of 1.46 million hectoliters (1.22 million U.S. barrels) of beer in the first half of this year, making a year-on-year increase of 21 percent and raising output by 3.5 percent to 9.15 million hectoliters.