Budapest, December 17, 2007 15:00

Magyar Telekom is the first in Hungary to carry HD TV broadcasts on its network. The company launched a pilot project in the 11th district of Budapest in the summer of 2007, to test the underlying VDSL2+ technology of the service. The appearance of VDSL2+ technology is bringing revolutionary changes in the field of broadband connections because it enables a minimum of 25 Mb/s download and 1.5 Mb/s upload rates.

“Magyar Telekom wants to actively shape the society’s internet habits with the new services it is continuously introducing; this is why it started the construction of an optical fiber-based network enabling large broadband rates, in the summer of 2007”, György Simó, chief officer of Magyar Telekom and head of the T-Com and T-Online business units explains. Thanks to the new optical network technology, internet speeds will multiply in the development area (to a minimum of 25 Mb/s), so in future T-Com customers will be able to surf the net much faster. As a result of the development, besides internet, telephone and T-Home TV services (internet television available on plain old television sets, which also offers a number of comfort services), the operator can also launch such innovative services on the network as video telephone or high definition (HD) TV service.

“We are making every effort to make available for our customers as quickly as possible innovative services which make life more comfortable and pleasant for everyone. We are therefore very happy to be the first in Hungary to offer HD TV service to our customers on the Magyar Telekom network”, added György Simó. HD TV is a high definition, digital television service which guarantees much better and more enjoyable picture quality than the traditional service, in addition to several comfort functions. For example, T-Home TV enables customers to watch the sport events of the Peking Olympic Games during the day, whereas they actually take place at night because of the time difference, and the HD television sets will bring the broadcasts in very high resolution. It is planned to launch the new services in 2008.

Ericsson was given the contract in the Magyar Telekom VDSL2 network tender to build both the pilot network and to actively participate in network expansion later in some appointed areas. The innovative services are still being tested on the pilot network. In the framework of this experimental project 100 customers in some parts of Budapest’s 11th district can test the 25 Mbit/s internet connection (25 Mb/s download, 1.5 Mb/s upload), and through the IPTV service (T-Home TV) the first HD channels on Sony BRAVIA HDTV sets, as well as the IP telephone service. Following the successful project Magyar Telekom will continue to build optical fiber networks enabling large bandwidths in several other districts of Budapest, in the agglomeration and in several larger cities. Talks are underway with the local authorities affected, and the first phase of the development will be commissioned in the first half of 2008.