GAS - The Anti-Monopoly Office (ÚOHS) has said it would launch administrative proceedings with gas importer RWE Transgas over high natural gas prices. The ÚOHS put natural gas prices under scrutiny after it received a complaint from a major RWE Transgas customer over a possible abuse of the provider's dominant position as a gas importer.

INTERNET - Next year the Czech IT Ministry will spend 200 million Kč ($8.39 million) to support projects related to the development of high-speed Internet connections, IT Minister Dana Bérová has announced. The ministry, which has never subsidized the development of broadband Internet, will sponsor the Internet development from the sale of Český Telecom.

NOMURA - The long-lasting dispute between the Czech government and Japanese investment bank Nomura should be settled out of court by the end of September, Prime Minister Jiří Paroubek has said. At an arbitration court in London, Nomura demanded 40 billion Kč from the Czech Republic as compensation for the country siezing the collapsing Nomura-owned IPB bank in June 2000 and its subsequent sale to ČSOB bank.

PORTABILITY - The Supreme Administrative Court will deal with the first ever legal dispute over phone number portability filed by mobile carrier T-Mobile against the market regulator, Czech Telecommunications Office (ČTÚ), at a public hearing Sept. 27. T-Mobile filed a lawsuit over the ČTÚ order that carriers must enable mobile number portability, including numbers obtained under contract that would stay under T-Mobile's maintenance for a set period of time.

FARMERS - Czech farmers have joined their Slovak, Polish and Hungarian counterparts in a request to revise conditions negotiated by their governments during European Union accession talks, said Czech Agrarian Chamber head Jan Veleba. Farmers are unable to compete with rivals in EU-15 countries, and the circumstance has led to a decrease in animal numbers and growth in raw-material imports, Veleba said.

STEEL - Law firm Lovells has been appointed to act on behalf of the Czech government in an arbitration with Mittal Steel Company concerning the recent privatization of the state-owned stake in Vítkovice Steel. Lovells was selected in a tender because it charged the lowest price, 46.2 million Kč. The government excluded Mittal from the Vítkovice privatization and sold the steelworks to Russian firm Evraz.