Press Releases

Budapest, June 28, 2002

In an effort to promote the mass spread and home use of the Internet, Matáv has developed new Internet access solutions in compliance with the support system of the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications. With the 15-hour and 40-hour packages to be introduced on August 1, and the new discount night tariffs the telephone costs of Internet usage will be substantially lower than the official telephone rates: with the night rates the telephone costs will be 85% cheaper, with the 15-hour package 47% cheaper and with the 40-hour package, 49% cheaper. The HUF 150 discount will stay in force till August 1.

The Government and Matáv share the aim of promoting the mass use of the Internet. For this end, Matáv, in compliance with the support system of the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications, has developed new Internet access arrangements that support the home Internet use of average users who represent the majority of this customer base. The new arrangements will be available to Internet users from August 1, and Matáv will not withdraw the HUF 150 night discount from July 1 as announced earlier but from August 1 so as not to leave Internet users without the discount. (The “Mindenkinek” package will be withdrawn on July 1.)

The principal consideration in developing the new arrangements was that they should meet the requirements of the average domestic user. According to surveys, the majority of Hungarian users spend between 10 and 40 hours a month surfing the net, typically in the afternoon and late evening. It is in view of these findings that Matáv and the Government have developed two new – a 15-hour and a 40-hour – Internet packages. Both fee packages are valid in the so-called extended discount period: from 16:00 till midnight on weekdays and from 07:00 till midnight at the weekends and on public holidays (from midnight till 07:00 the new night Internet discount will be available every day). The fee packages are only available to residential users.

The monthly 15-hour package is recommended for beginners and small-volume users (providing 30 minutes of Internet use daily which approaches the average international Internet usage). In this package, the gross telephone cost of the Internet access is 1550 HUF/month (1.72 HUF/minute). The Internet access subscription fee depends on the offers of the Internet service providers, but it will probably be less than 2000 HUF monthly, so 15 hours of Internet use monthly in the extended discount period will cost a maximum of 3500 HUF.

The monthly 40-hour package is recommended for medium-volume users (40 hours monthly Internet usage is the upper limit of the average Hungarian Internet use). In this package, the gross telephone cost of the Internet access is 4000 HUF/month (1.66 HUF/minute). Here too, the Internet access subscription fee depends on the offers of the Internet service providers, but it will probably be less than 4500 HUF monthly, so 40 hours of Internet use monthly in the extended discount period will cost a maximum of 8500 HUF.

In the 15-hour and 40-hour packages the telephone cost of the Internet use will be half of the official rates.

Matáv, in a joint effort with the Government, will introduce new discount Internet tariffs from August 1. The gross fee of Internet calls made to the 06-51 dial-up number between 0.00 and 07.00 a.m. every day will be gross 0.50 HUF/minute (naturally this discount will be automatically available to the subscribers of the 15-hour and 40-hour packages).

The discount night Internet tariff will be 85% cheaper than the official rate.

Besides the introduction of the new Internet use options, the solutions offered instead of the “Mindenkinek” package and the HUF 150 discount will remain in force:

Unlimited access is provided by the broadband ADSL service which covers 50% of the country's territory and which is expected to reach 70% penetration by the end of the year. On the basis of the offers now available on the market, the ADSL service is available for gross 10 000–12 000 HUF monthly (the price contains the telephone cost and the Internet service fee, as well).
For those who used to be subscribers of the "Mindenkinek" package and cannot avail themselves of the ADSL for technical reasons, Matáv offers a temporary ADSL replacement solution from July 1: in this solution the monthly Internet telephone usage cost for up to 60 hours of Internet use is a flat-rate gross 7500 HUF and the fee of the Internet service – depending on ISP – gross 3500 HUF/month.

For those customers who used the HUF 150 discount not for the Internet but for telephone calls, Matáv offers the "Csevegő" tariff package (which grants 20% discount after 5 minutes' call time and 30% after 10 minutes).

The new arrangements are favorable not only for Internet users, but also for Internet service providers as the promotion of domestic Internet use means not only the elaboration of discount offers for Internet users, but also the support based on revenue sharing, of the Internet service providers. On the basis of the regulations on revenue sharing, Internet service providers will be entitled – independently of usage – to 13% of the revenues from the 15-hour and 40-hour packages, in contrast with the previous practice when they shared 10% of the revenue of the calls made in the discount period.