Press Releases

Budapest, December 27, 2019 12:00

• Gábor Korom, dog trainer, founder of the Mirror Method and the New Year's Eve Animal Rescue Service jointly call our attention to the dangers of New Year's firecrackers. Telekom joins the initiative as a sponsor.
• A special Radar tariff package together with Telekom's pet tracking device may help finding lost dogs and cats.
• The collar-mounted tracker lets you track your four-legged pet in real time via your smartphone.

New Year's Eve is a critical year for dogs, cats and their owners, too.  Last year, more than a thousand dogs were so frightened of New Year's firecrackers that they escaped from home, according to reports to the New Year's Animal Rescue Service. This time of the year it is not unusual that desperate owners go around the neighborhood, place ads on trees, poles and post messages on Facebook to find their favorites. The disappearance, or worse, the loss of the animals, causes great sadness to the families who love them.

As New Year approaches, Telekom has introduced a special pet assistance tool and a special tariff package. The device itself is a collar-mounted tracking device that lets you track the exact position of your four-legged pet in an application: the Alcatel tracker transmits GPS location data to the owner's smartphone, which instantly shows you where your four-legged pet is. The application also allows you to set up virtual fences: as soon as your pet leaves such an area, the application will send an alert.

Telekom offers the necessary amount of data required for using the device in a special Radar tariff package. The tariff package provides 32 kbit/sec data transfer at a predictable cost of 590 HUF / month, even when roaming. Telekom offers the tariff package exclusively together with the Alcatel Pet Tracking Device it sells. More details and conditions can be found here.

“The digital world today offers opportunities we had never thought of before. GPS, which helps us navigate through a route planning application, also enables tracking of four-legged family members. As the firecracker season approaches, we're excited to bring another useful digital solution to families that helps keep pets safe.” said Attila Béla Szabó, Magyar Telekom’s Brand Communications Director.

This year, Gábor Korom, founder of the Mirror Method and the New Year's Eve Animal Rescue Service jointly draw attention to a problem that affects many people, namely the negative effects of New Year's Eve firecrackers on small animals. According to a recent survey, the majority of* Hungarians keep dogs (56%) and similarly many have cats (35%). They and their family members are potential stakeholders in the sad cases when firecracker-scared pets run away and sometimes never reappear.

"Contrary to popular belief, fireworks and firecrackers on New Year's Eve do not cast away bad luck, but rather dogs," says Attila Pintér, representative of the New Year's Eve Animal Rescue Service. “We are pleased that Telekom helps to draw even more attention to this problem as we approach the end of the year. Last year, we received more than 1,000 reports on lost dogs due to firecrackers on our Facebook page. In my opinion the responsibility of mindless firecrackers is clear, but a loving pet owner has a duty to do his best to protect his dog. And this tool can help him do that, but of course it's important to take care of your dog and don't let him stray."

"According to Gábor Korom, it is best to let pets into the house on New Year's Eve. The pet radar is not only useful during this time of the year: when someone is looking for a lost pet on an excursion in the woods, it may come handy if you can check the dog’s or kitten’s position on your smartphone with the touch of a button. " Gábor Korom's video message for owners can be viewed here.

More information about pet radar is available on this link.

*A representative survey was conducted this fall with a pulse research application and a telephone survey.