Hungary's Mobile Phone Penetration Rate 92.4% By End-'05
BUDAPEST -(Dow Jones)- Mobile telephone use continued to expand in Hungary last year amid fierce competition among the service providers, the Hungarian telecommunications authority, NHH, said Monday.
The number of active subscribers rose by 593,000 to 9.32 million by the end of 2005. The mobile telephone penetration rate, or the number of subscribers per 100 people, rose to 92.4% by the end of December from 86.4% at the end of 2004 and 90.7% in November. December posted the largest monthly rise in subscriber numbers, as usual, when subscriber numbers rose by 178,000, the NHH said in a release.
Market share data by active subscriber numbers show T-Mobile and Pannon GSM have lost subscribers while Vodafone gained them. T-Mobile's market share was 45.2% at the end of last year, down from 46.2% at the end of 2004 and 45.4% in November 2005. Pannon's market share shrunk to 33.6% by the end of 2005, from 34.1% a year earlier and was steady versus November. Vodafone's market share, meanwhile, rose to 21.2% by the end of December, from 19.7% a year earlier and from 21% in November.
T-Mobile Rt. is fully owned by Hungary's largest telecom company, Magyar Telekom. Magyar Telekom is majority owned by Deutsche Telekom. Pannon GSM is 100% owned by Norway's Telenor. Vodafone is fully owned by U.K. mobile operator Vodafone Group PLC.
Telecom authority Web site: http://www.nhh.hu
-By Margit Feher, Dow Jones Newswires; +361-267-0622; margit.feher@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires "
Posted to the site on 30th January 2006
