Phone calls predominated on New Year's Eve 2009

• Total network traffic was up by almost 12%
• The number of calls increased to more than 24 million
• The SMS centre processed almost 16 million text messages

Prague, 1 January 2010 - Czechs have again showed that sending Happy New Year wishes via mobile phones is a popular part of New Year's Eve celebrations. As compared with the last year's statistics, the total network traffic grew by 11.8%. Unlike on the Christmas Eve, on the last day of the year T‑Mobile customers traditionally prefer making calls to sending text or multimedia messages. Like in previous years, the heaviest traffic was shortly before and after the midnight - most messages were sent between 11:45 p.m. and 00:45 a.m. and most calls were made after the New Year's toast between the midnight and 1:00 a.m. In comparison with New Year's Eve 2008, operators registered a growth in the number of calls as well as text and multimedia messages.

On the New Year's Eve and during the first minutes of the New Year, phone calls were traditionally the most popular means of communication. The total number of incoming and outgoing calls increased by 4.3% to an impressive 24.29 million, with T-Mobile customers having made more than 13.6 million calls (a 5.4% increase). The heaviest voice traffic was again registered in two waves - in the morning between 10:15 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. and after the midnight between 0:00 a.m. and 1:00 a.m., when more than 3.9 million calls were made. The busiest quarter of an hour for calling was between 0:15 a.m. and 0:30 a.m.

Similarly as in the previous year, the number of text messages increased slightly, on this New Year's Eve by 1.7%. T‑Mobile's SMS centre processed almost 15.9 million text messages, with more than 12.8 million messages with Happy New Year wishes being sent from mobile phones. The peak hour for text messaging was between 11:45 p.m. and 00:45 a.m., when the SMS centre received more than 1.8 million text messages. During the busiest quarter of an hour, between 00:15 a.m. and 00:30 a.m., more than half a million messages were sent.

Unlike on the Christmas Eve, only a slight increase was reported in the number of sent multimedia messages. While in 2008 more than 162,000 multimedia messages were processed by the MMS centre (sent from mobile phones, external applications and via the internet), this year the number of multimedia messages exceeded 164,500, which represents an increase by 1.4%. The busiest MMS traffic was again registered between 11:45 a.m. and 0:45 a.m., when more than 13,600 multimedia messages were sent.

Foreign visitors to the Czech Republic, too, sent Happy New Year wishes to their loved ones on the last day of the year. The network was most used by visitors from Germany (31%), United Kingdom (10%), Poland and Slovakia (8%). The most active users also included the Italians, Dutch, Austrians, Russians, French and Ukrainians.

T-Mobile Czech Republic, a member of the international telecommunications group Deutsche Telekom, has almost 6.2 million customers, the number-one operator in the Czech market. T-Mobile is an integrated operator: in addition to telecommunications services, it offers comprehensive ICT solutions not only for companies, but also for other organizations and individuals. It provides outstanding services in the high-speed network, which was proved repeatedly by benchmark testing performed by umlaut (former P3) with Best-in-Test seal.

T-Mobile Czech Republic places emphasis on taking a responsible approach to the environment and society. It adheres to fair business practices, helps beneficial applications and services to see the light of day, supports non-profit organizations, small businesses and individuals, and lends a helping hand whenever crisis situations arise. The company’s employees serve as volunteers in many places across the entire Czech Republic.

More information about the company is available at www.t-mobile.cz, www.t-press.cz (the portal for journalists) and www.t-mobile.cz/pomahame (information on the company’s CSR activities).

Contact details of the press unit: press@t-press.cz.