Over the past thirty years, not only the way people make phone calls has changed fundamentally, but above all what they use the network for. Infrastructure originally designed primarily for voice calls has become a technology platform through which people communicate, work, watch television, shop, use banking services or access digital government services. In the past year alone, mobile data consumption on the T-Mobile network increased by a further 23.5%.
From the first SMS to 5G and artificial intelligence
The Paegas network launched in 1996 with the arrival of GSM. SMS services began to operate. A year later came Twist – the first prepaid card in the Czech Republic – and in 1998, Paegas, together with Expandia Bank, enabled customers to manage their bank accounts directly from their mobile phones. This made the Czech Republic only the third country in the world to offer such a service.
At the turn of the millennium came mobile internet and GPRS, in 2002 Paegas became T-Mobile, and in 2005 the operator became the first in the Czech Republic to launch a third-generation UMTS network. In 2012, Mladá Boleslav became the first Czech city to be fully covered by T-Mobile’s LTE network, and in November 2020 the operator commercially launched 5G.
The brand itself also evolved. T-Mobile gradually expanded its services from mobile communications to fixed internet, MAGENTA TV, ICT, cloud, cybersecurity, campus 5G networks and the Internet of Things. In recent years, it has added its own T Phone devices, the Magenta Moments customer programme and services using artificial intelligence.
“Over the past thirty years, we have grown from a mobile operator into a technology partner for millions of customers. During that time, technology has changed practically every part of our lives – the way we communicate, work and connect with one another. But our story has never been only about networks and technology. Above all, it is about people – the customers who trust us, the partners who grow with us, and the employees whose energy and ideas have made this journey possible. Thirty years is an opportunity to look back at what we have achieved together, but above all to think about what comes next and focus on further development,” says Melinda Szabó, CEO of T-Mobile Czech Republic and Slovak Telekom.
More than two million customers in Magenta Moments
It is precisely the relationship with customers that T-Mobile wants to place at the heart of its future development. One example is the Magenta Moments customer programme, which the operator launched in 2023 as the first within the Deutsche Telekom Group. In just three years, more than two million users have registered for the programme through the My T-Mobile app.
The programme is not just a catalogue of discounts. For the operator, it has gradually become a platform through which the brand communicates with customers and offers them its own and partner benefits, competitions, gifts and experiences. This summer alone, more than 200,000 customers collected one of the physical gifts. T-Mobile will then link the autumn directly with the celebrations of its thirtieth anniversary: it is thinking not only of its employees, but also of customers, who will find birthday competitions, discounts and entertainment in Magenta Moments, of the non-profit sector, for which a special 30' years anniversary grant has been announced, and also of the general public, who can look forward for a light-filled surprise.
A network that has never left the leading role in thirty years
Technology has changed completely several times over the past three decades, but a high-quality network remains the foundation of the operator’s services. Every year, T-Mobile invests billions of Czech crowns in network infrastructure. According to data from the CTU, 5G population coverage reached 99.3% at the end of August, and the operator’s fastest high-speed connection is available to more than 1.4 million households.
The latest independent Opensignal analysis, based on data from April to June 2026, named T-Mobile’s network the best mobile network in the Czech Republic. The operator won 13 of the 15 categories assessed, eight of them outright, and achieved, among other things, an average download speed of 72.3 Mbps. Opensignal also recognised the consistent quality of the connection and the extent of both mobile and 5G coverage.
The future will be mainly about data
Development does not end with today’s 5G. T-Mobile is testing and preparing technologies designed to take the network into its next phase – from 5G Standalone and the further development of fibre infrastructure and coverage of railway corridors to the use of artificial intelligence in network operations and digital services. This year, for example, it also tested in real-world operation a combination of a mobile base station mounted on a drone and satellite connectivity, while the development of innovations continues.
“Thirty years ago, simply making mobile phones accessible to ordinary people was already a major change. Today, we expect the network to be fully available practically all the time and everywhere, connecting not only people, but also homes, businesses, transport and entire industrial operations. And with the arrival of artificial intelligence, another chapter is opening up in how technology can transform our daily lives. What has not changed is our task: to create technologies that enable people to stay connected and make the most of the possibilities of the digital world. T means connecting your world,” concludes Melinda Szabó.
Timeline of important milestones is available www.t-mobile.cz/30-let