Many major telecommunications contracts are based on a minimum amount of traffic - whether telephone calls or advanced data communications - flowing from the customer over the carrier's network.

Some see it as an ominous sign that Poland has so far netted just one project, a $7 million telecommunications contract.

The United States previously reached settlements in two cases involving construction work at other military bases in Japan and one case involving a telecommunications contract.

Public buildings in remote areas can be connected through Wi-Fi without the expense of fiber or private telecommunications contracts.

The letter said that for 2002, Marriott retained $17 million in rebates from its telecommunications contracts, which it negotiates on its own, not through Avendra.

He pointed to Vietnamese telecommunications contracts and offshore oil leases that had already been locked up by non-American companies.

When American authorities award a postwar telecommunications contract, experts say, they may decide not to bother repairing and upgrading the existing land-line telephone network to current standards.

"Bribes are flowing in here like water," said a Bosnian who works closely with officials handling the telecommunications contracts.

The GPA, after all, does not apply to telecommunications contracts.

The agreement on telecommunications contracts is more beneficial to Israel, by ensuring that high-tech Israeli products can gain access to the Union's markets.