Future of Non-Voice Services with T-Mobile

• t-zones to offer an even more comprehensive and clearly-structured information, services and entertainment
• New phones to greatly increase user comfort
•  Video Messaging to allow sending videos from phone to phone
• T-Mobile customers to be the only ones to take advantage of the MMS Video Downloads service
• Video Streaming to allow users to watch video clips from a partner's offer
• MMS Info to extend the range of the popular T-Mobile Info services

Prague, 3 April 2003 - T-Mobile is offering its customers a number of improvements and new non-voice services. The t-zones wap portal will offer a new, more convenient and simpler user interface and, in addition to a redesigned structure, it will bring significantly expanded content. The upgrade of the t-zones portal is accompanied by a new range of infotainment, entertainment and messaging services based largely on the MMS format. The easy use and user-comfort will be supported by new phones with a special key designed exclusively for T-Mobile customers, as well as telephones with a pre-set key for direct access to t-zones.

"The introduction of new phones opens up a new dimension in mobile communications, bringing high user comfort. By pressing a single key, customers will be able to easily access up-to-date information, entertainment services or their e-mail box and, in addition, they will be able to use a number of new services we are about to introduce," says Jiří Hájek, press spokesman for RadioMobil. "Thanks to being a member of a global group, we can make our vision of making mobile multimedia applications accessible to the general public at favourable rates happen," he adds.

Easy access to t-zones via wap
The t-zones wap portal is a quick source of up-to-date information from the Czech Republic and abroad in fields such as business, culture or sports. Furthermore, it offers jokes, horoscopes, games (the latest ones are Iqmapa and Superliga) and it is thus a useful source of fun. Starting on 3 April, t-zones will offer a redesigned wap structure with new or expanded content, offering an even more comprehensive and clearly-structured range of information, services and fun. It will thus be easier to find the areas of services that logically belong together under the individual items and that will provide the user with "anything they can think of, anywhere".

New phones adjusted for easy access to t-zones will contribute to the increased user-comfort. Nokia 3650 and Siemens C55 have a special soft-key for access to t-zones. By pressing it, users will be offered connection to the t-zones WAP homepage. Samsung V200 has a special key        for direct access to the home page and on Panasonic GD87, the @ key serves this purpose.

The new user interface will also bring increased comfort, which means less text and more graphic elements in the form of icons for individual t-zones items: Pre-set bookmarks on the wap browser are another of the improvements allowing easier access to on-line services and information: on the new phones, several categories are selected in the wap browser bookmarks which users can browse off-line, and only by selecting them will they access the desired page on-line.

New t-zones content
One of the advantages of t-zones is the chance to obtain minute-by-minute news covering major events (Iraq crisis) or sports competitions. Under t-sports, users will find comprehensive coverage of the two most popular sports in the Czech Republic - football and ice-hockey. In addition to live broadcasts of matches of the Czech national football team, ice-hockey extra-league and world ice-hockey championship, the portal will offer commentaries, interviews or experts' comments on the above and other significant events, as well as results including clearly-arranged tables.

A brand new item on the portal is t-guide, which improves and extends the popular t-info services. Objects and information are clearly arranged here in area-specific groups (timetables, traffic, entertainment, sports, tourism, erotica, car services and local help). The service can now look up businesses and services in the user's neighbourhood or another place as requested. For example, if the customer selects the clubs option in the entertainment section and enters his or her current location or another place, for example a holiday destination, t-guide will look up up to three desired items including a short description, telephone number, address and distance. From this page, users can directly call the number on their display or have the location of the business or service and its surroundings found on the map; the map is displayed, based on the concrete telephone type, in the best form possible (also in colour) and the picture can be made bigger or smaller and moved. t-guide contains around 60 thousand items in forty categories, some of which also offer a detailed search (for example, search for a car repair shop according to the brand etc.).

New services
In the course of April, T-Mobile will be the first operator in the Czech market to offer a Video Messaging service which can send video sequences, including sounds, to customers. Customers will be able to simply shoot a short video using their mobile phone and send it off as if sending a standard MMS. The video message can be sent directly to the recipient's phone (Video Messaging is currently supported by Nokia 3650, with more phones to be added in the future) or to an e-mail address. If the message is sent to the customer's mobile phone on which MMS is not activated, the message will be saved on the t-zones portal, of which the customer will be informed via SMS including the access code. A video messaging player for PC will be downloadable free of charge from http://www.nokia.cz/support/3650.
From mid-April, T-Mobile customers will be the only ones in the Czech market to be able to use the MMS Video Downloads service which can download video sequences from the Downloads offer at t-zones. Users will be able to select a short video from several categories (such as sport, nature, erotica) and order it, in the same way as other motifs, via the WAP or internet t-zones portal or via SMS and send it to their phone or to someone else as a video postcard. Video Downloads will be supported by Nokia 3650 and Nokia 7650. In the case that the video file is sent to a customer without an active MMS service, it will be saved, similarly to Video Messaging, on the t-zones portal and the user can play it on his or her PC using the above player.

MMS Downloads already offer a wide range of MMS motifs. Customers can, for example, order an Easter postcard. Recently, the service was extended and features pictures of participants of the Miss 2003 final, with pictures of the winners to be added as soon as the results are known.

Since the end of March, more users than has been the case so far have been able to use the individual motifs offered under Downloads. The service is now supported by more phones allowing the download of MMS logos, ringtones and motifs. Java games are now supported by nine phones, the newest additions being Nokia 3510i, Nokia 6100, Nokia 6610, Nokia 7210 and Nokia 7250. T-Mobile offers the widest range of Java games, which can be sent to the user's or someone else's mobile phone as a present.

The offer of video files will soon be complemented with the Video Streaming service, which will allow customers to play video clips from a partner's offer on their mobile phones. To use the service, users have to install Real Player and applications allowing connection with the content provider's server. The service will be supported by Nokia 3650, Nokia 7650 and Sony P800.

A new service, MMS Info, will extend the popular T-Mobile Info service in the course of April. So far, T-Mobile Info users have been delivered messages with the ordered content via SMS; MMS Info will provide the desired content in MMS format, which means that the message will contain, in addition to text, a picture, for example a photograph. In the same way as with SMS Info channels, it will be possible to order a single piece of information or subscribe to the channel to receive information at the moment it is published. In addition to standard channels, there will be a special free channel providing users with information and examples concerning the current MMS Info offer.

Illustration photos and a presentation from the press conference can be found at www.t-mobile.cz under RadioMobil/Tiskové centrum/Materiály ke stažení. 

T-Mobile
RadioMobil a.s. is the first and so far the only national operator in the Czech Republic who is a member of a global telecommunications group. T-Mobile has been awarded first prize in the category Most Trusted Mobile Operator in the European Trusted Brands 2002 survey organized by Reader's Digest.  For more information on T-Mobile and its services, visit www.t-mobile.cz.

T-Mobile International, one of Deutsche Telekom AG's four strategic divisions, is one of the world's leading international mobile communications providers. Deutsche Telekom's subsidiaries and affiliated companies today serve nearly 82 million mobile customers worldwide. T-Mobile is the first transatlantic mobile communications provider utilizing the digital GSM wireless technology standard. In October 2002, T-Mobile was awarded Best Mobile Operator in the category Europe, Middle East and Africa by the jury of the World Communication Awards 2002. For more information, visit www.t-mobile.net.

Contact:
Jiří Hájek                                                               Martina Kemrová
Corporate Communication                               Manager External Communication Manager
RadioMobil a.s.                                                    RadioMobil a.s.
E-mail: ji.hajek@t-mobile.cz                             E-mail: martina.kemrova@t-mobile.c

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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.