The battle between TP and regulators over free domestic calls heats up

TP president Marek Józefiak complained about the decision at yesterday's press conference. "The regulator should be focused on the good of the clients, rather than on providing unjustified support to other operators." Last year TP already introduced two calling plans with free fixed-line calls, in the first one on weekends and in the other also in the evenings, with 1.2 million customers already taking advantage of them. URTiP claims that the newly proposed calling plan would be offered at below cost, which could lead to the destruction of smaller operators. The latter are demanding that TP also introduce similar flat rates for the interconnection fees it charges them. Calling plans similar to the one proposed by TP are already offered by a number of European operators, such as France Telecom, Telefonica of Spain, Telecom Italia, British Telecommunications and Belgacom. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p.26) T.J.