T-Mobile Hungary has launched its LTE network in most parts of 10 Budapest districts, covering over 40% of citizens in the Hungarian capital. The operator plans to expand LTE coverage to the whole of Budapest in 2012. The commercial LTE network rollout follows a three-month trial, in which over a hundred residential and business customers took part. To access the service, customers require the Net&Roll 4G mobile internet package and LTE enabled mobile internet USB stick.

On January 1 T-Mobile was the first in Hungary to launch the first 4G/LTE based mobile internet service. The service became available in most parts of 10 Budapest districts through LTE enabled equipment or using the Net&Roll 4G mobile internet package, which T-Mobile offers promotionally at a discount monthly fee. A three-month extended network testing has come to its end in which over a hundred residential, SME and large business customers and employees were involved. The development of the network continues intensively in 2012 also, so that an increasing number of customers may enjoy the benefits of the real mobile broadband.

The development of T-Mobile’s 4G/LTE network is underway intensively and according to plans. The network operated in certain parts of Budapest districts 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 12 and 13 in October 2011; by today it also covers already the larger parts of districts 2, 11 and 14. In the result of intensive development the number of 4G/LTE stations roughly tripled by the end of the year and, as of January 1, the new broad band mobile technology will be available for 40 per cent of Budapest citizens even for indoor use¬¬*. According to plans the service provider will expand coverage to the whole area of Budapest in 2012.

In the result of the development T-Mobile launched its 4G/LTE based mobile internet service as the first of its kind in Hungary. The service requires the use of the Net&Roll 4G mobile internet package and the LTE enabled mobile internet stick. The Net&Roll 4G package may be ordered with a discount of HUF 2000 from the monthly charge from January 1 (during the campaign but latest until March 31) for HUF 9.900 with new or expired subscriptions, undertaking a 2-year loyalty with respect to the package. The subsidized monthly charge can be asserted for the month of the activation and the subsequent three complete months (respectively, for the month of the activation and the subsequent complete month with 1-year loyalty commitment). The package that contains 40 GB data, does not include any surcharge for overuse; once the usage limit is reached, the broad band will be reduced or a 3 GB usage expanding option is also available with the package. T-Mobile offers the Huawei E398 type stick for using the service, which can be had for even HUF 0 with a new subscription and a 2-year loyalty commitment. Further details and terms are available at T-Mobile’s home page.

The extended three-month network testing, in which several hundreds of residential, SME and large customers and employees were involved, was closed at the end of the year. Those involved in the tests mentioned that the 4G/LTE network ensures a significantly enhanced average response time in the use of internet applications compared to the previous mobile technologies, whereas it offers a similar experience to that of using the broad band internet when browsing the web and playing online games. They also frequently mentioned as a positive trait the significant increase in upload speed. The experience of the test that covered a broad pool of users is that the extent to which the download band width offered by the 4G/LTE network can be used is also the function of the performance of the PC or notebook used. If the performance of the user’s computer facilitates the continuous play of HD quality films, 4G/LTE network users may download in real time the contents of YouTube or other content providers.

As a result of the large-scale network modernizing Telekom launched back in May the superbly fast HSPA+ based mobile internet service with a nominal download speed of 21 Mbps** has become available on 600 locations in the country. Developments are to continue into 2012 as well.