Q & A
Public 11.11.2004 in category Press News / Financial and Operational
Do you think the number of mobile users can grow further?
It certainly can. As long as there are people who do not have a mobile phone, there is still room for further growth. There is also room for growth in terms of SIM card numbers - many people use two or more phones/cards. Very often, they have both their own private phone and a business phone number; some customers use one SIM card for calls and another one for data services. According to our estimates, up to 15 percent of customers have more than one active SIM card.
The third area where we activate new SIM cards and where I can see great room for further growth are telemetric services in the case of which SIM cards are used within industrial and other applications.
Where will you find new clients?
Penetration is close to reaching its maximum and so while fighting for new clients, operators also often compete for the clients of another operator. We are very successful in this area, which is confirmed by the fact that we have the highest number of standard tariff users (over a million) and we serve the largest number of corporate clients.
What do you think the real mobile phone penetration is among Czech users?
Client numbers are distorted by different methodologies for the calculation of the number of active clients. I think that the number of phone numbers in the Czech market which are really used is up to a million lower, as people obtained these SIM cards from their operators for CZK 1, used up the credit and then put the SIM card in the drawer or threw it away. The figures are also lower due to the fact that many people have two or more mobile phones as well as due to the use of SIM cards within telemetric applications - this may make up approximately more than a million. This way, we will get the real user numbers, which may be slightly less than eight million. There are thus still around two million Czechs who do not have a mobile phone yet. According to our rough estimates, penetration is thus around 80 percent. This is significantly less than the 99.4 percent penetration according to the officially published figures.
Are you trying to agree with other operators on unifying the method of calculating the number of active clients?
Each operator uses its own methodology and no activities leading to unifying the methodologies have been initiated so far. Nevertheless, I believe that it would have a positive influence on the transparency of the market. This way, it is really hard to compare the individual operators.
Your ARPU has dropped, when do you expect it to grow?
You are right that ARPU dropped year-on-year from CZK 489 to CZK 470. Nevertheless, we recorded a slight growth in the last quarter. I believe that we will now be able to keep this figure stable. This is also confirmed by the increase in the number of contract customers who are the most valuable customers for every operator. We are also successful in introducing value-added services which our clients like and use frequently.
About the Company
T-Mobile Czech Republic has been operating in the Czech market since 1996. As of 30 September 2011, almost 5.4 million customers were using T-Mobile services.
T-Mobile operates a public mobile communications network on the GSM and UMTS standards. Since 1 January 2008, T-Mobile has been offering fixed data and voice telecommunications services. In 2009, T-Mobile extended its portfolio to include ICT services and, since November 2010, the operator also offers the T-Mobile TV satellite television service.
T-Mobile has always focused on the quality of offered services. Independent tests have repeatedly confirmed that T-Mobile is the quality leader in 2G and 3G (UMTS FDD) data services, as well as in GSM voice services.
Since its establishment, the company has placed emphasis on excellent customer service and proper conduct towards business partners, employees and the environment. T-Mobile has received, among other awards, the VIA Bona 2009 award for the involvement of its employees in philanthropic and volunteer activities.
T-Mobile is a member of the international telecommunications group Deutsche Telekom. Thanks to the group’s international presence, customers can count on the worldwide availability of their favourite services and enjoy uniform, favourable prices of calls when abroad.
For more information about the company, please visit t-press.cz or www.t-mobile.cz.
