Telenor ASA (TEL), the Nordic region’s largest telephone company, said it will deflect a minute-based phone tax in Hungary onto its customers, MTI reported, citing Istvan Kutas, the local unit’s director of communications.

The minute-based tax on phone calls, which the government plans to introduce from July 1, would bring to two the number of extraordinary taxes telecommunication companies have to pay in the second half, costing Telenor about 1 billion forint ($4.2 million) a month, Kutas told the state news service.

“We can’t swallow that, therefore as soon as the new extraordinary tax becomes effective, we have to incorporate the minute-based tax in our prices,” Kutas told MTI, adding that this is a better solution than cutting jobs or halting projects.

To contact the reporter on this story: Zoltan Simon in Budapest at zsimon@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net