Swisscom ups the stakes in price war

Call prices cut to Britain, Taiwan and South Korea Keystone

The Swiss telecommunications operator, Swisscom, said on Wednesday it would cut its base charge for calls to Britain, South Korea and Taiwan by about 50 per cent from October 1.

In the latest move in Switzerland’s telecom price war, Swisscom will reduce the price of calls to Britain to SFr0.12 ($0.068) a minute during the week from a current SFr0.25 a minute. The weekend rate will be SFr0.10 a minute down from SFr0.20 a minute.

Call charges to South Korea and Taiwan will be slashed to SFr0.65 a minute from SFr1.25 a minute during the week, and to SFr0.50 a minute from SFr1.00 a minute at weekends.

The moves are part of Swisscom’s selective charge reductions introduced after a major price round in March.

The latest price cuts by Swisscom bring its call rates to Britain, South Korea and Taiwan beneath those of one of its main competitors, Sunrise.

But one of its rivals, Tele2, remains the cheapest alternative for calls to Britain, with a rate of SFr0.07 a minute at all times, and the cheapest alternative during the week for calls to Taiwan and South Korea with a rate of SFr0.59.

swissinfo with agencies