According to the Budapest Business Journal, Magyar Telekom’s mobile unit T-Mobile Hungary reported that its market share continued to erode in 2006, although it still commanded a comfortable lead by the end of October. Magyar Telekom’s deputy CEO in charge of mobile services, János Winkler, said last Friday that the cellco had a market share of 44.7% by the start of November, down from 45% on 31 December 2005. Winkler went on to say that T-Mobile now controls 50%-54% of the corporate market, including 60%-65% of subscriptions at Hungary’s biggest 500 companies. The company has also improved its customer mix in 2006 and contract users reached 35%-36% of the total subscriber base by end-October, while average monthly revenue per user (ARPU) rose by HUF20 to HUF4,917.
T-Mobile is focusing its efforts on 3G services and has sold 4,000 notebook computers together with a wireless modem as part of a recently introduced special promotion. It aims to sell 6,000-7,000 notebooks by year-end and is improving its network coverage to boost take-up. T-Mobile’s 3G network currently has 28%-30% coverage of the country, and this is expected to increase to 45%-50% next year. The company expects to sell 70,000 3G-enabled devices this year.