Bulgaria's crime-fighting units are preparing a major raid against pirate Internet providers, media reported.

Lists of illegal providers, who haven't paid license taxes and charge users half the usual rate for access to the World Wide Web, have been prepared over the past weeks, Standart daily newspaper writes.

Pirates all over Bulgaria charge about EUR 5 - EUR 6 a month for LAN connection and they hurt the business of legitimate providers who can't drop their price much below EUR 10 - EUR 15, due to license taxes.

Only in capital Sofia there are about 100 such illegal companies that undermine the business by skimping on the legal procedures. They often don't even have an office and collect their monthly payments door-to-door, without issuing any invoices.

Some of the pirate providers go even further in their quest for more clients, and they cut the cables of legitimate providers, or bust their equipment. This problem is especially serious in Sofia's Lyulin, Drizhba, Obelya and Lozenets districts, the paper writes.

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