Government announces sale of heating plants. The Slovak government approves the privatisation of six state-owned central heating plants in Bratislava, Trnava, Žilina, Martin, Zvolen and Košice, with 5 percent of the shares to be transferred to the municipalities. The privatisation is halted after the fall of the Radičová government in October.
O2 launches 3G data network. Telefónica Slovakia, the most recent entrant to Slovakia’s mobile telephone market, officially launches data services on its own 3G network that covers 30 percent of the Slovak population, with plans to increase it to 50 percent by the fall of 2012. Telefónica Slovakia, which uses the O2 brand, entered the Slovak market in 2006 and had more than 1 million customers in the first half of 2011.
Law curbs photovoltaic plants. A new law initiated by the Economy Ministry takes effect that curbs subsidies for solar power stations in order to halt a boom in construction of these large facilities on arable land and objections by end-users to higher electricity prices due to the subsidies to the solar power industry. The new law restricts feed-in tariff subsidies only to small solar power stations with an installed capacity of less than 100 kW mounted on roofs or walls of existing buildings. Over 800 solar facilities with an aggregate installed capacity of 478 MW are operating in Slovakia by mid 2011.
