Press News

Budapest, April 24, 2003

On April 22 Christopher Mattheisen, Matáv's Chief Officer of Residential Services LOB was invited to the [origo] Chat Room to talk, among others, about telephony and Internet with visitors.

Christopher Mattheisen: Welcome in the Chat Room, I am ready to answer your questions about telephony, Internet and other issues.

- Good afternoon. I was recently called with an offer to migrate my ISDN line to a much more favorable package free of charge. My questions is: Why is it good for Matáv? (retsam_13)
C.M.: You mean ISDN Turbo? If so this really is free of charge and a very favorable offer.

- It is good that it is free of charge and favorable, but why is it good for you? (retsam_13)
C.M.: ISDN Turbo is good for us because it encourages utilization of the capacity which is very important for any network operator.

- What exactly does a Chief Officer do? (retsam_13)
C.M.: I direct the fixed-line LOB – it is that simple.

- What are Matáv's plans about tariffs? (Vamax)
C.M.: First we want to see the acceptance of the Felező (Halving) tariff package: the preliminary results are very positive. We may continue creating packages with similar structure.

- Hello! My question is: how many hours do you work on the average a day? How much do you earn for that work? (D-thy)
C.M.: With this comparison I can say that I come off badly... :) With my first summer job about 20 years ago I may have earned a higher hourly rate!


"ISDN is good not only for data transmission"

- Good afternoon! When two years ago we ordered an ISDN line then: 1. It was not installed. 2. Our line was disconnected and for unknown reasons is still shown as a private line and we are not registered in the telephone book either. (kismorgo)
C.M.: You can be registered in the telephone book free of charge if you ask for it at the call center and have not requested treatment as an ex-directory number. I can't say anything about two years ago, but now you can certainly request connection.

- Recently the ADSL bandwidth was increased and consequently the gap between the bandwidths of ADSL and cablenet has been significantly reduced. Customers who were paying HUF 5,000 – 6,000 more just to be able to use the higher cablenet rate are now put at a disadvantage. There is an obvious question: What added value can cablenet offer that justifies this price gap? Are you planning to make developments in the near future? (Neo)
C.M.: Well, there are some differences, the consumer needs to decide what is more important in a given situation: reliability of the connection in which case ADSL is generally better, or the upload rate for which generally cablenet is slightly better.

- I agree, consumers need to consider which to choose. I subscribed to cablenet a year ago after making some considerations. But in the meantime the ADSL bandwidth has changed and now I cannot change among others due to my two-year loyalty contract. Does that mean there is nothing I can do? (Neo)
C.M.: All I can say is that such fixed-term contract structures are standard in telecommunications and are needed to enable faster spreading of certain new services among residential customers, not only in Hungary but elsewhere as well. It happened to me too, that I bought a mobile phone with a similar contract structure and the following month a much more attractive model was launched.

- I have not been paying a telephone bill for two years with Matáv's consent because I had a minor disagreement with the Financial Director. Are you aware of such cases? (card)
C.M.: I am aware of the existence of such cases but not about the given customers. What would you like to ask more specifically?

- Why are you promoting ISDN? Shouldn't you make ADSL and other broadband solutions better known and more attractive to the customers? I don't think that ISDN would be the future medium for Internet connections. (Levente-)
C.M.: First: we are making low-key efforts to promote both, your approach is mainly connected with Internet usage. We should also see that ISDN is good not only for data transmission but for many voice applications too. It is particularly ideal for companies simultaneously using a number of lines or for fax with a dedicated number.

- Are you German or just happen to have a German name? (retsam_13)
C.M.: My name is a mixture of Norwegian, Danish and German, I am American.


"We are constantly monitoring trends"

- When will Matáv finally become a non-profit organization? (The_niTRo)
C.M.: When will our competitors become non-profit organizations?

- Why is it that ordinary Hungarian people always get obsolete technology? As it happened with ISDN. In Germany DSL was launched, ISDN became obsolete. Lots of equipment became superfluous which was then palmed off on the Hungarians. (szics0z0r)
C.M.: First: ISDN is not obsolete technology, the number of ISDN subscribers is steadily rising in Germany where we see the highest growth rate within Europe (reaching 7%). Its popularity is rising in the other countries too. ADSL is not obsolete either, it is a well proven technology. If we were to launch a new technology too early customers would complain that Hungary is being used as a guinea-pig.

- Well, then why is ISDN advertised as being a super high-speed Internet medium? It is not at all fast. (Levente-)
C.M.: It is fast. It can transfer 128 kbps in both directions.

- When will Matáv's Internet access be the fastest in Hungary? (retsam_13)
C.M.: Our view is that it depends on how you look at it.

- Are you planning to launch in the near future a gamer package with a medium download rate (30-40k) and low ping (10-20 ms)? In other countries close to Hungary this is a well proven and successful package for net players. (Nilaya)
C.M.: This is a good question, we are constantly monitoring such trends, with special regard to developments in Europe connected with Playstation and Xbox Live services. We don't want to miss this business.

- When are you planning to make broadband Internet accessible in smaller towns and villages? Can we expect this at all? Can we have information about your current plans for capacity upgrading? (fisR)
C.M.: You can follow developments at adsl.matav.hu.

- I am not an Axelero customer, my ADSL always operates well, while my friends with Axelero subscription are constantly complaining about their ADSL. If I am well informed all services are running on the same system. How is it possible? (aron_bacsi)
C.M.: For example you may be nearer to the exchange, but this is not necessarily the reason. It depends also on the Internet provider.

- Can ordinary home users expect that 1 Mbps lines will become cheaper in the future? (|blabla|)
C.M.: I don't know what ordinary home usage means, I can't answer this specific question.

- What is the ISDN subscription fee in Germany converted to forint and what Internet packages are offered? (fisR)
C.M.: A rather large matrix shows these tariffs, more than one tariff package is offered. You can find such information on Deutsche Telekom's web site. German tariffs include many variables which makes direct comparison difficult.

- How many lawsuits are instituted against Matáv annually? How many of them do you win? (D-thy)
C.M.: I am not working in the legal area, I don't consider litigation as core business so I cannot answer this question from memory.


"We take competition seriously"

- Do you speak Hungarian or are you using a translator for chatting? (card)
C.M.: If you can’t tell from my style then this question is a great compliment for me.

- I am very much interested to know the reason why in Sweden (where salaries are several times higher than Hungarian ones) the monthly ADSL subscription fee is the equivalent of HUF 1,500? (aron_bacsi)
C.M.: I would need to look at the specific figures to answer this. One thing is sure, ADSL penetration in Sweden is several times higher than that in Hungary.

- Which Matáv subsidiary do you consider to be the most successful? (hakapepsi)
C.M.: It depends on many factors. Both Westel and Axelero are successful but we should also consider in both cases in which phases of their life-cycles they are.

- What happens if a really tough competitor enters the market? Would it be good or bad for you? I mean how long could you keep up with the competition? (gollam)
C.M.: Our view is that we are already highly competitive. Over the last few years we have been preparing for an increasingly strong competition. We are continuously comparing our key indicators with international benchmarks to be sure that we are prepared for any competition.
We take mobile operators seriously as competitors. One of the key reasons behind our new tariff packages was to improve our positions in face of them.

- The termination of the Westel 450 service can cause extraordinary costs at Matáv level. Will it have any negative impact on the users? (P5away)
C.M.: No.

- Will ADSL subscription fee decrease in the near future? (D-thy)
C.M.: Isn't the 25% reduction recently made good enough?!

- Which is Matáv's most unsuccessful project? I am very curious to know which was your attempt that spectacularly FAILED. (gollam)
C.M.: I am not aware of such a thing. If it had been spectacular you would know about it.
If you don't have any other questions I will say good-bye and wish you a good time on the Internet.