Paegas Gained Almost a Million New Clients Last Year

• By the end of last year the number of mobile phones exceeded the number of fixed lines
• 1,850,000 customers were using Paegas GSM network services at the end of 2000

Almost every second inhabitant of the Czech Republic now owns a mobile phone. By the end of last year the number of mobiles exceeded four million, and hence got beyond the number of fixed phone lines. During last year the Paegas network gained almost 1,000,000 new customers, and 1,850,000 clients were using its services at the end year. â?śThe Czech market is growing at an incredible tempo so far. We are very happy to have been able to gain almost twice as many customers as in 1999, when we were the most successful telecommunications operator in the Czech market,â?ť said the spokeswoman of RadioMobil Tereza Kakosová.

â?śWe concentrate primarily on such customers who are really interested in using our mobile telecommunication services and are willing to invest in them. And so we attracted our new customersâ?? attention by a wide range of our services, quality of customer care and the widest choice of mobile phones in pre-Christmas sales. We did not distribute free SIM cards in order to increase the number of customers artificially by tens of thousands,â?ť adds the spokeswoman Tereza Kakosová.

The rapid growth in the number of clients last year has also required the introduction of another (already the fourth) dialling code. After the prefixes 0603, 0604 and 0605, a Paegas user can be identified also by 073. The new code is one digit shorter, the phone number has therefore seven digits and provides a sufficient capacity for further growth in the number of customers. So far, only buyers of the prepaid Paegas Twist service will be getting it. The new code was assigned to RadioMobil by the Czech Telecommunications Bureau last year.

In 2000, RadioMobil focused especially on further improvements in the care of existing customers. New services such as Paegas Click, where the customer can configure a whole range of services in ClickProfil via the internet or using ClickWAP, as well as an incessant increase in the number of info line operators contributed to that.

In 1999 RadioMobil became the most successful operator in the number of newly gained clients. In addition to that, RadioMobil succeeded to gain a large number of subjects from the ranks of corporate clientele last year. By the end of the year came for example the insurance company Allianz, the food producers Danone and Nestlé, the engineering company Škoda PlzeĹ?, but also for instance The Ministry of Interior of CR. â?śWe prepared a number of interesting services aimed mainly at the corporate clientele during last year, especially in its second half. They choose Paegas especially because of the wide spectrum of services offered, but also for our approach towards the customer,â?ť added Tereza Kakosová.

Year	1997	1998	1999	2000
No. of active customers	173 000	373 000	875 000	1 850 000

By an active customer we understand all users of standard tariff programs (except for those deactivated or suspended for any reason), and furthermore owners of prepaid Paegas Twist cards who made their first call (which also serves for customer registration into the network)

The joint-stock company RadioMobil is the operator of a GSM 900/1800 MHz network called Paegas. Since 1996, when RadioMobil entered the Czech market and brought in competition, it obtained almost two million customers. RadioMobil sells prepaid services under the brand Paegas Twist, which is the most successful prepaid service in the Czech market, providing its users with a whole range of services such as data and fax connection, GSM Banking based on the SIM Toolkit standard, Paegas Assistant services, access to WAP services and furthermore it offers a free e-mail ClickBox Easy. Paegas Click is another brand of RadioMobil, focused on customers with Internet or WAP access. At www.click.cz they can easily configure services as well as for instance use a comprehensive e-mail box based on the unified messaging technology.

Today, the Paegas GSM network covers over 99% of the Czech population and 99.8% of first class roads. RadioMobil customers may use their mobile phones in networks of 196 operators from 86 countries of the whole world (118 various locations altogether). By the end of 2000, more than 1,850,000 customers were using Paegas services.

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.