TP SA lowers connection fees to mobile phones

TP SA has reached an agreement with mobile telecom operators on lowering interconnection fees, with the peak hour rate falling from zł.0.73 per minute to zł.0.68 as of September 1, with a further reduction to zł.0.65 which comes into effect on October 1. TP SA will follow with a reduction in retail prices of fixed-to-mobile (F2M) connections. A new TP SA pricing scheme will come into effect in November, as the dominant operator tries to retain customers who are fleeing to mobile networks. However, mobile telecom operators resisted a price reduction in the amount initially proposed by TP SA, which foresaw peak hour fees dropping to zł.0.62 this year and zł.0.45 in 2006. Meanwhile, Polkomtel, became the last of the three mobile operators to launch a very favorable pre-paid scheme, with per-second billing with flat rate fee of zł.0.78 per minute and text messages costing zł.0.20. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B5) T.J.