Press Releases

Budapest, December 18, 2003 09:30

On December 17, the 100,000th ADSL subscriber access was connected by Matáv's staff. With this Matáv has fulfilled - and, by the end of the year, will even over-fulfill - its year 2003 plans. Broadband Internet access growth in 2003 approached 200%.

In 2003, Matáv implemented Capex projects in a magnitude of HUF 10 billion in order to accomplish its Internet market goals. A large part of the investment was used for the roll-out of broadband Internet. As a result of these steps, 175 towns were connected to the service this year, in this way, broadband access is available for more than two thirds of the Hungarian population.

Broadband: Hungary among the best

With the 100,000 ADSL subscribers accumulated by Matáv, broadband Internet access growth has approached 200% in 2003. In this way, the proportion of Hungarian broadband Internet users has reached a high level even in comparison to European figures, as 33% of domestic Internet subscribers have a broadband connection to the world wide web.

In Matáv service area, every fifth Internet access is an ADSL connection. In the East Central European region, Matáv is the market leading company in terms of total ADSL lines; with regard to ADSL penetration (i.e. ADSL prevalence among the population) Hungary ranks second in the region, the first being Estonia. The rate of ADSL Internet users is 20%, this figure exceeds even the EU's average of 19%.

Joint success of Matáv and Internet service providers

Matáv's ADSL service is marketed as a wholesale product to its Internet service provider partners; accordingly, Matáv could achieve the 100,000 Internet accesses only with an active participation of Internet service providers. This result is their joint success and exemplifies adequately that the information society can be established in Hungary only with the joint efforts of the competitors.
At present, Matáv has 16 ADSL partners: Axelero, Drávanet, Elender, Enternet, Etel, Euroweb, Externet, GTS-Datanet, Inform Média, Inter.net, Interware, Invitel, Keystone, TV-NET, VIVAnet, Westel.

About ADSL

Matáv's ADSL service family providing high-speed Internet through a broadband access was introduced in September 2000. Matáv's ADSL products explicitly serve high-speed Internet access; with their help a constant connection can be established that may be up to 20 times quicker than traditional dial-up or ISDN connection. (E.g. a film trailer can be downloaded in a few minutes through ADSL; in the case of a traditional dial-up connection, this would take 30 minutes).

When accessing Internet through ADSL, there is neither connection nor usage fee; at the same time, it can be used all round the clock parallel with telephone or ISDN services, without disturbing these. As a result of the technology applied, ADSL access cannot "become overloaded" even if a large number of users are connected to it. There are four types of ADSL access: Matáv offers Internet connections of a transmission speed of 384 kbit/s or 512 kbit/s to residential customers, while business customers may also choose accesses of a speed of 768 kbit/s or 1500 kbit/s.

The roll-out of broadband Internet can also facilitate the expansion of high-quality Internet usage which relies on a wide utilization of Internet-based options. An average Internet user spends only 6 hours per month on the web, in the case of broadband users this figure amounts to 100 hours. The use of the broadband promotes the development of Internet contents as well: average users administer only 9% of their affairs via Internet, this figure is already 35% among broadband users.

Small town ADSL program
The outstandingly successful "Small town ADSL program" was launched this year. Through regional development activities fitted to market demand, this program has made ADSL access available in small towns and villages, too; in this way it has promoted the catching-up of economically less developed regions. The goal of the "Small town program" is to identify and serve - after having already provided service in the cities - the towns and locations showing a significant interest in ADSL. In the first phase of the program (started on June 23), prospective users from 42 locations could register their request. The list of towns included in the program is continuously expanding; in the second phase (till the end of August), another 76 towns were included in the list. So far, about 200 towns have been incorporated in the program, and - due to development activities started in line with market demand - the service can already be accessed at 79 locations.

Sky DSL - broadband Internet connection via satellite
Not even those customers who live in areas not yet covered by the ADSL service should give up hope of having a high-quality access to the web. The Sky DSL service ensures a broadband Internet connection via satellite in areas where no other broadband Internet access is available. With the help of satellite connections, the service multiplies the download speed of the already existing Internet access; when using this service, web contents may be downloaded with a speed of up to 768 kbit/s.

Milestones in 2003

- As of March 1, Matáv introduced new ADSL packages enabling 384 kbit/s ADSL Internet access to be available on the long run at a price below HUF 10,000. At the same time, a 512 kbit/s package was introduced; its speed is ten times higher than that of a dial-up connection; in this way, residential customers may also choose among various speed categories. In order to promote the sale of higher-speed business ADSL packages, the wholesale price of both 768 kbit/s and 1500 kbit/s accesses was reduced.

- In order to promote the roll-out of new packages, Matáv announced a 50% connection fee discount campaign for its Internet service providing partners in March and April; the discount scheme has been joined by 13 service providers.

- From May on, users interested in ADSL service availability may use an ADSL search engine linked to Matáv’s homepage; when the address or even just a telephone number is entered, they may get quicker and more accurate information about the availability of ADSL service than before. The program has been joined by 9 service providers.

- The Small town ADSL program was announced in June; it has been joined by 9 service providers.

- Between September and November, Matáv promoted an ADSL+PC campaign for its contracted partners. In this campaign, all ADSL subscribers could purchase HP PCs at a discount price. Parallel to the ADSL+PC campaign, an e-learning campaign was also announced between September and December. Under this campaign, all customers ordering ADSL may learn in one of Matáv's e-learning modules (Word, Excel etc.) free of charge.

- On October 10, Matáv launched an ADSL campaign with the involvement of its partners; this enables new subscribers to use ADSL Internet service free of charge till the end of the year. All Internet service providers have joined the campaign.

- In order to roll-out its service, Matáv started to render ADSL service also in areas with a mixed copper/optical access network where no service was provided until now (e.g. in the 3rd district of Budapest). As a result of this development, 30 000 more customers are given the possibility to order ADSL service.