Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had talks with Chief Executive of Deutsche Telekom

On Friday in the Carmelite Monastery, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán received Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Telekom Timotheus Höttges. The meeting was also attended by Minister for Economic Development Márton Nagy and Magyar Telekom’s Chief Executive Tibor Rékasi. At the meeting, the parties reviewed the prospects and challenges of Hungary’s digital development and the results achieved in this field, Bertalan Havasi, the Prime Minister’s press chief informed the Hungarian news agency MTI.

According to the press release issued regarding the meeting, Mr Orbán and Mr Höttges agreed that digitization was a key factor to retaining the competitiveness of Hungary and Europe, and that in this regard they continued to look upon each other as strategic partners. In the interest of the 2030 goals of the path leading to the digital decade, promoting investments and supporting infrastructure developments are crucial.

Mr Höttges highlighted that Magyar Telekom is playing an important role in the country’s digital development and in making available the benefits and opportunities offered by the digital world to members of the public and businesses. Between 2014 and 2022 in Hungary, Magyar Telekom implemented investments worth more than HUF 1,000 billion, including investments to the value of some HUF 800 billion in the development of cable and mobile networks. Thanks to the intensive developments of recent years, today Magyar Telekom offers gigabit-level services to more than 3.4 million homes and businesses, and as part of its mobile network modernisation programme, it has increased its outdoor 5G coverage to population to 60 per cent. In the interest of promoting further developments, there is a need for a fiscal policy that encourages investments, Mr Höttges added at the meeting.

In addition to the construction of infrastructure, in cooperation with the Hungarian government, Telekom supports the integration of digital technology, encouraging the digital development of small and medium-sized enterprises, large corporations and industry with innovative solutions and educational platforms.

The Chief Executive of Deutsche Telekom also pointed out that telecommunication was an extremely investment-intensive industry, and consumer demand for data continued to steadily increase. On a European level, data traffic is increasing by some 25 to 30 per cent annually, largely due to the services of global content providers which are, however, at present not yet contributing to the development of networks.

At the meeting, Mr Höttges spoke about the strategic role played by Magyar Telekom in the DT Group, highlighting its long-term commitment to enhancing the Hungarian economy’s performance, productivity and competitiveness.