The Bulgarian market for telecommunication services rose close to 30% to BGN 3.9 bn in 2007, shows preliminary data of the local telecom regulator.

In 2006, the telecom market posted a 10% year-on-year growth, reaching just over BGN 3 bn or around 6% of the nation's GDP.

Mobile services were the main growth engine in 2007, contributing more than half of total telecom revenues.

In related news, chairman of the Communications Regulation Commission Veselin Bozhkov said there is no legal obstacle to nation's three wireless carriers - Mobiltel, vivatel and Globul, joining the fray for GSM frequencies in the 1 800 megahertz spectrum although they are yet to indicate their interest in the procedure.

The price of oil has reached a historic high at USD 122 a barrel, leading Turkey to spend more than ever on oil imports.

Following the dramatic rise in prices, oil and other fuel now amount to 22.3 percent of Turkey's total import volume cost. According to data provided by the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat), oil and fuel imports increased by 56 percent in the January-March period over the same period of 2007, amounting to USD 11 bn. Total import costs of oil in the first quarter of 2007 equaled USD 7 bn and USD 33.8 bn for all of 2007. In the first quarter of last year the cost of these products increased by 14 percent and their share in Turkey's total imports stood at 20 percent. If this dramatic rise of oil prices continues during the rest of the year, the annual cost of Turkey's energy imports is expected to total USD 53-54 bn.

Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica says that DSS-NS ministers are not aware of the contents of the SAA’s “accompanying document.”

Koštunica said that the government had never adopted a document with whose contents not all the government’s members were entirely familiar.

“Not only does ‘Solana’s agreement’ represent deceit and the signing away of Kosovo’s independence, but the Tadić-Đelić signature was also put on an accompanying document that we have yet to see,” the prime minister cautioned.