Sim cards cutting the cost of calling home
Mobile phone groups have been quick to recognise the potential of Polish and other expat communities.
Phone home: Special sim cards can reduce the cost of callsO2 has not only launched a 'Your Country Pay & Go service designed to offer cheap international calls, it sponsored Polska Rocks, a music festival at the O2 Dome's Indigo venue.
'We invited 2,000 of our customers to the event which got extremely good feedback,' a spokeswoman said.
O2 rolled out marketing material in Polish and sold the sim cards which will fit any unlocked GSM phone for £4.99 at 50 Polish convenience stores around the country.
For £10 a month customers receive 50 free international minutes or for £30 they get 200 international minutes to any international phone or mobile. After that, rates to most of Europe are 7p a minute to landlines and 30p to a mobile.
Vodafone is the network behind Lebara, another sim card only service that charges 4p a minute to Polish landlines or 9p a minute to mobiles.
Three is also poised to launch a service aimed at East Europeans, but has already had huge take up for its X Series phones which can use the Skype free internet calling service.
'One of the biggest benefits is that also means that calling from Poland to a mobile in the UK can be free,' a spokesman said.