MICROSOFT Software company Microsoft plans to double its sales in the Czech Republic by 2009, regional Chief Executive Officer Michal Cupa said Sept. 19. The company wants to help increase household computer use to about 50 percent. Microsoft covers more than 90 percent of the Czech PC operating systems market.

HYUNDAI South Korean carmaker Hyundai will make new versions of its Elantra and Tucson models in its new Czech plant beginning in 2008, a company spokesman said Sept. 20. The plant will also be the site of production for its new C-MPV beginning in 2011. Hyundai is likely to raise its total investment in the plant to 34.1 billion Kă ($1.5 billion). Roughly 65 percent of its parts will be Czech-made.

RADIO A conglomerate of investment firms from the United States, Europe and the United Arab Emirates filed a joint bid to buy Czech telecommunications company Radiokomunikace Sept. 19. The companies are offering nearly 28.5 billion Kă for the company. Radiokomunikace is owned by the Dutch company Bivideon, which has not planned to hold any talks with the conglomerate, a company spokesman said.

LCD Japanese LCD screen producer IPS Alpha launched construction of a new plant in Îatec, north Bohemia, Sept. 18. IPS will invest more than 2.6 billion Kă in the Triangle industrial park, and the plant will employ 2,000 people beginning in 2008. The Czech branch of Hitachi wants to build a television plant worth 2.5 billion Kă in the same park.

NOVA Central European Media Enterprises (CME), which owns TV Nova, expects its net revenues from the station and its Galaxie sports channel to fall 15 percent, the company published on its Web site Sept. 21. CME announced it expects the two stations to earn about 4.5 billion Kă this year. They made a combined 5.3 billion Kă last year.

DISPLAYS Cathode tube maker LG.Philips Displays Czech Republic approved a settlement plan with creditors Sept. 4. The company currently has nearly 7.4 billion Kă in outstanding claims. LG.Philips hopes to immediately pay some 30 percent of its current debt. The company proposed the plan so that it would be able to continue operations.

INTERNET More than two-thirds of Czechs do not have access to the Internet at home, and more than half do not own computers, according to a recent Factum Invenio poll. Czechs worry that the Internet is too complicated, and many are dissuaded by the high price of Internet access.

LOGISTICS The Czech Republic was again the most popular logistics destination in Central Europe last year and moved to the fourth place in Europe, according to a study by the consulting company Cushman&Wakefield. Logistics and warehousing space in the country will increase to 1.6 million square meters (16.7 million square feet) this year.