EU Roaming in summer: Czechs far surpassed foreigners

Czechs called three times more and used ten times more data services in the EU than in the same period last year
Visitors from the EU called 75% more and used data services five times more in the Czech Republic
The largest number of foreigners visiting the Czech Republic this summer were from the Netherlands

T-Mobile’s evaluation of EU roaming traffic in its network during July and August indicates that, compared with last year, Czechs used mobile services abroad significantly more than foreigners in the Czech Republic.

“Compared with last year, our customers called nearly three times more and used data services almost ten times more in the EU countries during the summer. Conversely, the number of outgoing calls made by EU citizens in the T-Mobile network grew by only 75% on average while their data consumption increased approximately fivefold,” says Pavel Henke, Vice President Wholesale at T-Mobile, adding that the number of outgoing text messages increased only slightly.

 

Visitors from the EU in the Czech Republic: the largest number of calls were made by Romanians and Bulgarians
Differences were also apparent among tourists from different countries – simply stated, the increase in consumption of mobile services by visitors from Western Europe was in most cases smaller than that by citizens of the former Eastern Bloc, who are more price sensitive. Visitors to the Czech Republic whose data consumption in the summer grew the most following the introduction of the new EU regulation governing roaming prices included those from Romania, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Poland. With respect to voice services, the first two positions were clearly occupied by Romanians and Bulgarians, who called five times more and three times more, respectively, when visiting our country in comparison with last year.

Czechs in the EU: the top three countries include Slovakia, Germany and Austria
As in previous years, Czechs used roaming mobile services in the summer most often in Slovakia, Germany and Austria. It can be expected that they largely did so when passing through these countries to tourist destinations in Southern and South-eastern Europe. The other countries filling out the top ten in mobile data consumption while roaming were Croatia, Poland, Italy, France, Greece, Hungary and Spain.

The largest number of foreigners visiting the Czech Republic were Germans; the number of Dutch saw the biggest increase
During the summer, the number of foreign mobile numbers registering in the T-Mobile network was approximately 20% higher in comparison with last year. The top five included citizens of Germany (accounting for nearly one-half of the entire top five), Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine and Austria. When comparing the change in the number of roaming users with June 2017, it was the Dutch who saw the biggest increase. The number of visitors from the top-five countries listed above in the operator’s network was more or less stagnant or even decreased, which is presumably attributable to the fact that these foreigners largely spend a longer time in the Czech Republic and leave the country during the summer or that (in the case of visitors from neighbouring countries) they live in border areas and visit our country frequently throughout the year.

T-Mobile was the first operator in the Czech Republic to have introduced EU Roaming on 2 April 2017 as part of its new Mobil tariff plans and new tariff plans for business customers, which were introduced one day later. The operator activated tariff plans complying with the aforementioned EU regulation for all residential customers on 11 June this year.

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.