| Report of the auditors We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheet of Slovenské telekomunikácie, a.s. ("the Company") and its subsidiaries and joint venture ("the Group") at 31 December 2002, and the related consolidated statements of income, cash flows and changes in shareholder's equity for the year then ended. These financial statements set out on pages 48 to 73 are the responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit. We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion. In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the consolidated financial position of the Group at 31 December 2002, and the consolidated results of its operations and cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with International Accounting Standards. PricewaterhouseCoopers Bratislava, Slovak Republic 18 February 2003 |