T-Mobile has completed a 18-month WCDMA upgrade of its GSM network in the Czech Republic. In addition to a significant network expansion in Prague, the 3G services will be available in Brno and Plzen by the end of June, with most regional towns covered by the end of September. T-Mobile is also currently testing HSPA+ technology with peak downlink speeds of up to 21 Mbps.

T-Mobile is continuing to invest heavily in technologies this year. The company's GSM network upgrade, which took 18 months, was completed last week. The operator is currently focusing on the rapid expansion of 3G services, which will be available in Brno and Plzen by the end of June. Network coverage will also be significantly expanded in Prague. By the end of the summer, most regional towns will be covered as well.

Last week we finished the overall upgrade of our GSM network. All our customers everywhere in the Czech Republic will feel the change. They will get a higher-quality connection, better coverage in problematic areas and much higher transmission speeds thanks to the EDGE technology used within the entire T-Mobile network," says Frank Meywerk, T-Mobile technology director.

Mr. Meywerk's statement is confirmed by an independent assessment carried out by 3P Consulting, a company which regularly assesses the quality of all GSM networks in the Czech Republic. 3P Consulting assessed T-Mobile as the best provider of voice and data services in the second half of last year, i.e. when only half of the GSM network upgrade had been completed. A total of 4,514 base stations and 112 controllers were replaced during the upgrade. The new transmitters are approximately 45 percent more energy efficient.
Big 3G bang started

The availability of 3G in Prague will significantly increase in the next two weeks and the UMTS network will be rolled out in Brno and Plzen. This summer 3G services will be extended to Ceské Budejovice, Olomouc, Pardubice, Ústí nad Labem, Hradec Králové, Liberec, Ostrava and Karlovy Vary. The next thirty major towns in the Czech Republic and their close surroundings will follow by the end of this year. T-Mobile reckons that 3G network coverage will be made available to the residents of 500 towns and cities in 2011-2012.

In addition, T-Mobile is currently testing the HSPA+ technology included in the UMTS 3GPP Release 7 specification, which offers maximum theoretical transmission speeds of up to 21 Mbps. This technology represents a further significant increase of transmission speed as well as a further increase of response time during the loading of web pages. The first commercially available end-user devices supporting the HSPA+ technology are now on the market. If internal tests prove the expected increase of the real transmission speed, T-Mobile can present this technology to its customers within a few months.

About the company
T-Mobile Czech Republic has been operating in the Czech market since 1996. As of 31 March 2010, almost 5.5 customers were using T-Mobile's mobile services.
T-Mobile operates a public mobile communications network on the GSM standard in the 900 and 1800 MHz bands and is also authorized to operate a UMTS network. Since 1 January 2008, T-Mobile has been providing high-speed internet connection services based on ADSL technology and offering voice services via a public fixed-line electronic communications network. At the end of 2009, T-Mobile extended its portfolio to include ICT services.

Since its establishment, the company has placed emphasis on the quality of offered services, excellent customer service and proper conduct towards business partners, employees and the environment. T-Mobile 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 take advantage of unified, favourable prices of calls when abroad.For more information about the company, please visit www.t-press.cz or www.t-mobile.cz.

Source: http://www.telekom.com/dtag/cms/content/dt/en/872974