O2 offers callers breath of fresh air with cheap rates

The company wants to compete with traditional telecoms by offering telephone connections through the Internet at the lowest possible prices. Tlen has set a call to fixed-line networks in Germany, UK or Italy at just zł.0.12 per minute, whilst the largest domestic telecoms firm, Telekomunikacja Polska, charges zł.1.2 per minute. Long distance calls offered by the Tlenofon service cost zł.0.9 per minute. "Such moves will lead to the erosion of the traditional operators' margins, while the costs of our services is significantly higher because of network maintenance. It just spoils the market," said a representative of one of the telecom companies. Competitors, however, do not fear a mass migration of customers to Tlenofon since users need to have a fixed Internet connection, which means it will not become a mass product soon although it may force other operators to revise their prices. By the end of the year o2.pl is hoping to attract several thousand customers. (Puls Biznesu, p.10) E.B.