Press Releases

Budapest, May 20, 2009 14:30

T-City - a unique, long-term development and innovation program - will be launched in Szolnok, the first city of Hungary where, with the assistance of Magyar Telekom, citizens, institutions and businesses can test the infocommunications services of the future and experience what everyday life will be like in the coming decades.

Health care, education, public administration, tourism and culture are just a few of the areas which will undergo profound changes in the future thanks to infocommunications developments. Based on the joint initiative of Magyar Telekom and the local government of Szolnok, a city with county rights, the citizens of this city will be the first to experience the benefits of new technologies.

In 2009 several stages of development will be implemented in the city. As the first stage, mobile payment and mobile purchasing services are already provided by T-Mobile, the mobile communications brand of Magyar Telekom, using the high quality GSM and 3G HSPA networks operated in Szolnok, and the local news will be communicated in text messages to the public as a service provided by the local government. Institutions and businesses will also be involved in the innovations: institutions will be provided with the most advanced equipment, while Magyar Telekom is offering special service packages to businesses. Magyar Telekom will also set up a live test environment in an innovation center called Home Lab located in a rapidly developing area of the city, in order to analyze residential and SME demands and create a more market-oriented environment for future services. Home Lab offers real life test opportunities for the products and services to be introduced to market. In autumn 2009 further stages of development will be launched and are expected to bring significant changes in the everyday life of the local residents - including, among others, an online broadcasting system with IP camera in the municipal sports hall, and an RFID (radio frequency identification) admission system for schools which notifies parents by SMS when their child arrives at school.

The key element of the T-City core infrastructure is a new generation fiber optic network which has been already developed by Magyar Telekom in certain areas of Budapest, Debrecen, Eger, Miskolc, Nagykanizsa, Nyíregyháza, Pécs, Sopron, Székesfehérvár, Szombathely, Tatabánya and Zalaegerszeg and which will be made available in Szolnok as well. T-Home - Magyar Telekom's brand for domestic and small business communications services - is the first of Hungary's service providers to deliver extra high speed Internet and television services directly to households. The benefits of optical network will be made available to institutions and businesses as well, where implementation of long term initiatives and developments can facilitate the proliferation of e-government, e-learning and teleworking services that are of key importance especially under the current economic conditions.

The development of T-City, the "digital city", is one of Magyar Telekom's key innovation projects where all the products and services of the company are offered, and developments pointing to the future will be launched for the first time. According to the concept of the T-City project the company will develop services that make life easier with the involvement of citizens to ensure that their demands are met as fully as possible.

Szolnok has been selected on the basis of various considerations, and, as the local government is open to the idea, T-City will be launched here. It is not only one of the most innovative initiatives in Hungary but it will soon have an appreciable impact on the everyday life, work and future of the citizens of Szolnok.