Era GSM to offer reduced rates for conversations interrupted by advertising

Starting in April subscribers of Era GSM mobile network will pay less for their calls if they agree to listen to advertising during their conversations. Era is the first company in Poland to offer the service, and the eighth in the world (currently the service is available in France, Sweden, and Denmark). Subscribers will have the choice of entering a special code before dialing that will trigger interruptions of 15 to 30-second advertising bits, but charges for the call will be less than otherwise. Prices will be not be announced for another month, but rates per call could possibly drop by as much as one half. Products to be advertised include food, laundry detergent, cars, and insurance policies. Era expects that 50,000 of its 2 million subscribers will opt for the service as soon as it is available. In the future advertising will also be available in SMS messages. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p.21) M.T.