Budapest, March 16, 2006 10:00

President László Sólyom awarded Magyar Telekom chief officer Dr. Tamás Pásztory the Knight's Cross Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary for his work to promote the development of telecommunications, for his public role, for the introduction in Hungary of modern human resources management practices of international standard and for his contribution to the creation of EU compliant regulation of the telecommunications market in Hungary. The decoration was presented to him in the Cupola Hall of Parliament on March 15, 2006.

Dr. Tamás Pásztory and the human resources, legal and training activities directly run by him have been honored with several professional and public prizes in recent years. In recognition of its achievements in providing excellent welfare services for its employees, in 2003 Matáv won the "Healthy Workplace" competition invited by the American Chamber of Commerce and the US Embassy in Hungary. In 2004 the Hungarian Academy of Sciences recognized his efforts in promotion of the knowledge-based society with a Mór Wahrman medal. For his active role in the service of elimination of social inequality Dr. Pásztory was given Deutsche Telekom's "Equal Opportunities - Living Diversity" award in 2004. He played an active role in starting the highly popular "University of All Knowledge" which won a Prima Primissima prize in December 2004.

Biography:

- Dr. Tamás Pásztory, born in Balassagyarmat in 1951, holds qualifications as engineer and lawyer.

- From 1990 he acted as Matáv's Director of Human Resources Development, formerly he acquired professional practice in various positions at the company's legal predecessor the Hungarian Post. He has held executive positions for over 25 years. He acted as advisor on the preparation and implementation of the privatization of Matáv when it separated from the Hungarian Post. He managed the consistent implementation of the business culture of a multinational company, which turned the former state monopoly enterprise into one of Hungary's most efficient and strategically most important businesses. On his initiative, Matáv pioneered, among others, the introduction of an insurance-based social benefits system.

- In 1995 he was appointed deputy chief officer and since 1996 he has been running the human resources and legal area of the company in the capacity of chief officer. Matáv was among the first Hungarian companies to introduce distance learning, teleworking, the outplacement (provident dismissal) system, electronic HR, multi-media training programs and internet-based recruitment. Dr. Pásztory contributed to the creation of the Act on Communications, the Act on Electronic Communications and the EU-compliant regulation of the telecommunications market. As senior executive, member of the Management Committee of the Magyar Telekom Group, Dr. Pásztory is involved in taking the strategic and business decisions of the group and in running its daily business.