Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Leo Burundi, a unit of Orascom Telecom Holding SAE, plans to cut call costs in Burundi and to other East African nations, said Herve Pendeoro, the company’s marketing director.

Calls within the country and to Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania will decline to 180 francs ($0.13) a minute from 260 francs and those to the Democratic Republic of Congo will fall to 370 francs a minute from 740 francs, Pendeoro said in an interview today in Bujumbura, the capital.

“Our aim is to ease communication to Burundi and the sub- region operators who are using great effort to develop themselves,” he said.

Leo is the country’s biggest mobile-phone operator with more than one million subscribers, according to the company. Its competitors include Econet Wireless Holdings Ltd. and state- owned Onatel.

--Editors: Gordon Bell, Antony Sguazzin

To contact the reporter on this story: Desire Nimubona in Bujumbura at dnimubona@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net