Speaking at the first Post Forum conference, held in Cologne last month, Helmut Ricke, head of the newly-formed Telecom der Deutschen Post, told the audience that the expansion and renovation of the East German telephone network could cost $12,000m to $18,000m more than expected: Ricke, who has organised the development of the network into 10 areas handled by 10 individual workgroups, estimates that the cost alone of bringing the network up to West German standards will be about $18,000m – the sum originally calculated for network expansion and the addition of various value-added services such as data communications, cellular telephony and cable television; in fact, it will be these services which, according to the Ricke estimate, will mean that the overall cost could amount to some $36,000m.
