Is this the beginning of TP SA's decline?

TP SA is gradually losing its market share in the International Long Distance (ILD) and Fixed to Mobile (F2M) lucrative market segments, despite numerous discounts and lower prices. At the end of the second quarter, TP's share in ILD amounted to 76.4%, which indicates a decrease of 13% over the second half of 2003. In the F2M segment the company's share stands at 82.5%, while at the end of 2003, the figure was at 98.9%. "We expect a further decline in TP SA's share in these segments. They are also the most important for alternative operators," said Tomasz Maciszewski from NOM. Competitors claim that TP SA has reacted far too late to reverse the negative trend and furthermore it is too big to act smoothly against aggressive price cuts of particular competitors. The largest telecom operator reacted to all this by declaring that it will halt the decline and will increase its market share. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 4) M.M.