Press Releases

Budapest, December 10, 2009 16:00

Magyar Telekom received, for the third consecutive year, the Top Corporate Donor Award. The market leader telecommunication provider of Hungary won the award as the company that distributed the highest total amount in donations in 2008. The Hungarian Donors Forum (HDF) presented the prestigious awards for the fourth time in its history at the gala that followed the conference organized by the association. Communication Director Mihály Varga accepted the award on behalf of Magyar Telekom.

The award was established by the Hungarian Donors Forum with the purpose of strengthening corporate responsibility efforts by presenting, recognizing and publicizing companies' donation activities. The award has been given on the basis of the total amounts spent by companies on donations during last year, as well as their relative proportion compared to their public financial data.

Commenting upon the award, Magyar Telekom's Chairman-CEO, Christopher Mattheisen said: "I am very glad about this award, as it shows that we are on the right track, and the professional community appreciates our donation efforts. We consciously strive to make donations an integrated part of our diverse sustainability and corporate responsibility strategy, as well as to help non-governmental organizations where and how they need it most. In order to achieve this, we provide not only financial, but professional support, too, to the foundations and associations we cooperate with."

In making its decision, the jury took into consideration how donations are positioned in the context of the companies' daily business and culture, and how carefully and efficiently donations are made. The jury justified its decision by stating that the donation efforts made by Magyar Telekom for more than a decade are mainly characterized by consciously selecting complementary elements, and helping target groups that have the least chance to receive any support or attention."

The company has greatly contributed to increasing awareness among a wider scope of society about social issues that were earlier handled as isolated problems, such as the difficulties of people living with disabilities, and also helped to ensure that other companies start addressing these issues, too,- said the Chairman of the Hungarian Donors Forum, Veronika Móra. "Moreover, Magyar Telekom pursues this activity by continuously encompassing new areas and applying additional means, and constantly shapes its donation program to make it as efficient as possible."

In 2009 Magyar Telekom renewed and rationalized its donations activities. The new strategy points out the key areas of donations: healthcare and prevention, sustainability, as well as popularizing sciences and training. Other non-governmental organizations to be supported are selected in the course of the year, on the basis of the strategy. Applications are accepted throughout the year.
A new element among the donations activities is the Non-governmental Strategic Partnership Program, in the framework of which the Company selects non-governmental organizations in several rounds of evaluation to cooperate with them in implementing socially useful and important programs. The three-year strategic partnership status provides donations of HUF 10 million per year, per organization, as well as active professional and communication cooperation for the organizations selected. It is also on the basis of the donations strategy that the board of trustees of Magyar Telekom's program called Magyar Telekom Contributes selects those who receive so-called ad hoc donations. Applications are welcome throughout the year, and the target areas of our donations are identical to the ones defined in the context of our strategic partnership program. In addition, we have been running the Donation Line for seven years now, which collects donations to a different organization or association every two months, thus enabling them to continue or further develop their activities.
Magyar Telekom strives to increase awareness of its employees about the Company's corporate responsibility efforts. In this spirit it established its Supplemented Individual Donations Program several years ago, and also organizes regular volunteer work with the participation of its employees.

About Magyar Telekom
Magyar Telekom is Hungary's biggest provider of telecom services. It provides a full range of telecommunications and infocommunications (ICT) services including fixed line and mobile telephony, data transmission and non-voice as well as IT and systems integration services. The business activities of Magyar Telekom are managed by two business units: Consumer services (the home-related services brand T-Home and the mobile communications brand T-Mobile) and Business services (T-Systems brand). Magyar Telekom is the majority owner of Makedonski Telekom, the leading fixed line and mobile operator in Macedonia and it holds a majority stake in Crnogorski Telekom, the leading telecommunications operator in Montenegro. Magyar Telekom's majority shareholder (59.21%) is MagyarCom Holding GmbH, fully owned by Deutsche Telekom AG.
For further information visit www.telekom.hu.