Press Releases

Budapest, February 18, 2003

Matáv is committed to building the information society. True to this commitment and joining the efforts of the government, it is introducing new Internet and telephone packages which will help substantially reduce the costs of Internet and telephone usage as from March 1, 2003, while the number of ADSL subscribers will also grow. Internet usage costs will decrease by an average 25%.

Matáv is offering the Internet service providers wholesale packages of the 15-hour "Kezdőnet" and the 40-hour "Haladónet" Internet tariff packages which were only available to retail customers so far. This gives the Internet service providers the opportunity to develop their own packages which comprise telephone and Internet usage costs. Matáv's wholesale offer will be 25% cheaper than the retail packages, so the ISP will be able to pass on the 25% Matáv discount to users. This is expected to reduce retail Internet usage costs by 25%.

Matáv's wholesale offer for the 15-hour package is 1162.5 HUF gross (the retail offer is 1550 HUF gross), so depending on the offer of the Internet service providers, the end-user price will probably be 10-15% lower than at present. The 40-hour wholesale package costs 3000 HUF gross (the retail price is 4000 HUF gross), so depending on the offer of the Internet service providers, the end-user price will probably be 35% lower than at present.

In addition to the 15-hour and 40-hour packages, Matáv will also put on the market a 100-hour Internet package both in retail and wholesale form. The retail price of the 100-hour package will be 8 750 HUF gross, and the wholesale price 6562.5 HUF gross which means that the wholesale price of this package too will be 25% lower than the retail. The discounts given in the 100-hour Matáv package – similarly to the 15-hour and 40-hour packages – will be available in the so-called extended discount period which means from 4 p.m. till midnight on weekdays and from 7 a.m. till midnight at the weekends and on holidays.

ADSL service is available at a growing number of places

Thanks to the tax benefits on investments, Matáv will accelerate the expansion of the ADSL network in 2003, so the current 1.4 million fixed lines with the opportunity to access ADSL will considerably grow both in Budapest and in the country. By connecting another 52 localities in the countryside this year, Matáv expects to reach 64% coverage in terms of fixed lines, while in Budapest this will approach 100%. By the end of 2003, almost one hundred localities will be covered and ADSL subscribers may exceed one hundred thousand.

Matáv will introduce new ADSL packages. The price of the existing 384 Kbit/s access will go down and a new, much faster 512 Kbit/s speed connection will be available at the current price of the 384 Kbit/s access. Thanks to this new offer, the end-user prices are expected to drop by 20-30%. We also expect that offers below 10 000 HUF for the 384 Kbit/s access will appear in the market, while the new 512 Kbit/s ADSL connection will be sold at the current price of the 384 Kbit/s connection.

Fixed telephone rates to drop substantially from March 1

Matáv will offer the best telephone rates so far for its fixed customers: with the Felező/Halving package from March 1 in off-peak hours customers can call local and domestic long distance numbers for only 12 HUF gross. In the peak periods calls will cost only 20 HUF gross. This means that the Felező package offers customers more than two hours free conversation monthly. Half of the monthly fee of the Felező package (3210/1605HUF gross) can be used in calls without call set-up charge.