Press News

Budapest, April 30, 2003

The prizes of the competition announced jointly by Matáv, Westel and the National Association of Student and Youth Journalists (DUE) were presented at the 10th National Youth Press Festival. In response to the invitation of the organizers more than hundred young journalists have written essays on how fixed-line and mobile services complement each other in everyday life.

On April 25 the Sándor Petőfi Culture Center in Gödöllő hosted the 10th National Youth Press Festival. The one-day event offered, in addition to entertainment programs, numerous interesting professional presentations for journalists from secondary schools and colleges throughout Hungary. Various prizes were awarded at the Press Festival for the work of school radio and journal editors. The result of the competition held by Matáv, Westel and DUE was announced also at this event. The competition invited would-be journalists to write about how fixed-line and mobile services complement each other in everyday life. The timeliness of this task is shown by the fact that in Hungary more than 3.5 million fixed lines and about 7 million mobile phones are used for interpersonal communication and a substantial part of the population have both fixed-line and mobile phone. The entries show how young people view telecommunications, how much fixed-line and mobile communication have become part of their life. The entries submitted reflect that almost everybody uses fixed line for longer conversations due to its lower tariffs and better voice quality. There is a huge difference in the judgement of fixed-line and mobile phones as objects that can be possessed. The journalists' view is that fixed-line phones belong to the family and occupy a key place in the home, while "mobile is only mine" and enables making confidential calls not overheard by curious family members. Mobile phones are used by secondary school and college students not only as a means of telecommunications but also as a status symbol. The type, functions and costs of their mobile phones are a constant topic of talk among students. Today each mobile carrier offers Internet access, but young people rather use fixed-line access due to its lower costs and higher data transmission speed. Mobile data transmission is hindered by the high price of phones with data transmission function and the fact that some carriers restrict the quantity of data that can be downloaded. Their opinion is that mobile Internet will not replace conventional connections for a long time to come. Most competitors addressed how they imagine the future of telecommunications. Mobile telephony may spread rapidly, but people "won't throw out their fixed-line phone". Their view is that the "fight" between fixed-line and mobile providers will continue. Mobile carriers will approximate their tariffs to those of the fixed-line providers, while the latter will offer services to their customers which were earlier available only on mobile phones. SMS sending and receiving is already available, soon we will be able to send pictures and short video records from home, and select what tune our telephone sets in the living room, bedroom and kitchen play to indicate an incoming call.

Finally the jury awarded prizes to 5 competitors. The winners received valuable Matáv and Westel gifts. The most outstanding entry was written by Gergő Baráth who is a match for professional editors in terms of preparedness and writing skills. Soon he can show his aptitude not only in the secondary school journal in Nyíregyháza but also in the "grown-up" media since the first prize includes an opportunity to publish in the Matáv Group's internal journal.