T-Mobile
Encyclopedia
T-Mobile International AG is a German
-based holding company
for Deutsche Telekom AG
's various mobile communications subsidiaries outside Germany. Based in Bonn
, Germany, its subsidiaries operate GSM and UMTS-based cellular network
s in Europe, the United States, Puerto Rico
and the US Virgin Islands
. The company has financial stakes in mobile operators in both Central
and Eastern Europe
.
The T-Mobile brand is present in ten European countries – Austria
, Croatia
, Czech Republic
, Hungary
, Macedonia
, Montenegro
, the Netherlands
, Poland
, Slovakia
and the United Kingdom
– as well as the US, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
Globally, T-Mobile International subsidiaries have a combined total of approximately 150 million subscribers, making the company the world's twelfth-largest mobile-phone service provider by subscribers and the third-largest multinational after the UK's Vodafone
and Spain
's Telefónica
.
systems that were owned and operated by the state postal monopoly, Deutsche Bundespost
. On July 1, 1989, West Germany reorganized Deutsche Bundespost and consolidated telecommunications into a new unit, Deutsche Bundespost Telekom. Deutsche Bundespost Telekom built and operated Germany's first cellular mobile network, and eventually created the DeTeMobil subsidiary as a holding company for Deutsche Bundespost Telekom's wireless communications assets.
Deutsche Bundespost Telekom was renamed Deutsche Telekom
in 1995, and began to be privatized
in 1996. That same year, DT began to brand its subsidiaries with the T- prefix, re-naming the DeTeMobil subsidiary T-Mobil.
In 2002, as DT consolidated its international operations, it anglicized
the T-Mobil name to T-Mobile.
On April 1, 2010, the T-Home and T-Mobile German operations merged to form a new wholly owned DT subsidiary, Telekom Deutschland GmbH. The T-Mobile brand was discontinued in Germany and replaced with the Telekom brand. The T-Mobile brand is still used in markets outside Germany. Non-German mobile-network assets are organized into various country-specific subsidiaries under the T-Mobile International AG subsidiary of DT.
In 2010, T-Mobile UK
became part of a joint venture
with France Telecom
's UK mobile-network provider, Orange UK
. Combined, the two companies make the UK's largest mobile-network operator, called Everything Everywhere
. Despite the joint venture, the T-Mobile and Orange brand continue to co-exist in the UK market.
The T-Mobile brand is present in ten European countries – Austria, Croatia
, Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia
, Montenegro
, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia
and the United Kingdom – as well as the United States, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.
Globally, T-Mobile International subsidiaries have a combined total of approximately 150 million subscribers, making T-Mobile International the world's tenth-largest mobile-phone service provider by subscribers and the third-largest multinational after the UK's Vodafone
and Spain's Telefónica
.
In 2005, it acquired former competitor tele.ring from Western Wireless International. It is now used as a discount brand. tele.ring is an Austrian mobile network operator. Since it was bought by T-Mobile in 2006, it is no longer a legally independent company. Tele.ring is administratively independent and now acts primarily as a discount-offer, similar to Yesss and BoB
of Orange
and A1
. In the past, tele.ring was known for their aggressive price-politics.
T-Mobile Czech Republic a.s. has been operating in the Czech market since 1996. As of May 30, 2008, 5.273 million customers were using T-Mobile services.
T-Mobile Czech Republic a.s. operates a public mobile communications network on the GSM standard in the 900 and 1800 MHz bands and is also authorized to operate a UMTS network. On October 19, 2005, T-Mobile was the first operator in the Czech Republic to launch this third-generation technology under the name Internet 4G.
systems that were owned and operated by the state postal monopoly, Deutsche Bundespost
. These early mobile communications networks were referred to as the "A" and "B" networks.
Deutsche Bundespost Telekom built Germany's first cellular mobile network, an analog
, first-generation
system referred to as the "C" network or C-Netz
. The network became operational in 1985 and services were marketed under the C-Tel brand. Following German reunification
in 1990, the "C" network was extended to the former East Germany.
On July 1, 1992, Deutsche Bundespost Telekom's DeTeMobil subsidiary began operating Germany's first GSM 900 MHz frequency cellular network, which the organization referred to as D-Netz. Digital GSM services were marketed under the "D1" brand and DeTeMobil continued to sell analog cellular services concurrently under the existing C-Tel brand. In 1994, DeTeMobil introduced short message service
(SMS) services.
In 1996, DT began to brand its subsidiaries with the T- prefix, re-naming the DeTeMobil subsidiary T-Mobil and re-branding the GSM cellular network T-D1. C-Netz was re-named to T-C-Tel. The T-C-Tel / C-Netz services were fully discontinued in 2000.
D1 introduced prepaid service called Xtra in 1997.
Despite the numerous changes in subsidiary names and brands, Germans sometimes continue to use theT-D1 name within Germany and refer to T-Mobile as D1.
On April 1, 2010, after the T-Home and T-Mobile German operations merged to form Telekom Deutschland GmbH, a wholly owned DT subsidiary; the T-Mobile brand was discontinued in Germany and replaced with the Telekom brand.
In T-Mobile's home market of Germany, it is the largest mobile-phone operator with almost 16 million subscribers , closely followed by its primary rival, Vodafone
. T-Mobile plans to add UMTS services to its German network, having spent EUR
8.2 billion in August 2000 to acquire one of the six available licenses.
Beginning September 5, T-Mobile is offering pre-registration for the Apple iPhone 5
.
Since 2009, T-Mobile is the premier partner of McDonalds for offering wireless internet access in all German restaurants.
, the former company, named Westel (which was owned entirely by the former Matáv) changed its name, and the entire marketing. Westel was the most popular cellphone network in Hungary at the time. The company was called T-Mobile Hungary, but after some financial decisions, as with the other T- companies, it formed to Magyar Telekom Nyrt. Mobil Szolgáltatások Üzletág (Hungarian Telekom, Mobile Services Business Unit), but they still say T-Mobile. T-Mobile also provides high-speed services, like EDGE
, 3G
, and HSDPA in the major cities of Hungary.
, a DT subsidiary. Although the acquisition by Magyar Telekom was done in 2005, it was not until September 26, 2006, that the MoNet GSM operator was re-branded as T-Mobile Montenegro.
MoNet GSM launched on July 1, 2000, as part of Telecom Montenegro
. It became an independent incorporated limited-liability company a month later, on August 1, 2000.
The company currently holds around 34 percent of the Montenegrin market and uses GSM 900
, GPRS, and EDGE
technologies. Since June 21, 2007, 3G
/UMTS services have been available in larger cities as well as on the coast.
market by the acquisition of Ben
on September 20, 2002. T-Mobile Netherlands, a wholly owned subsidiary of T-Mobile International, acquired Orange Netherlands from France Télécom
for EUR 1.33 billion. This makes it the second largest mobile telephone operator in the country behind KPN
.
, which was at the time sold exclusively by AT&T. T-Mobile failed to keep up with the demand, and capacity problems on the network were the result.
T-Mobile denied the problems at first by saying to complaining customers that their mobile phone or SIM-card
was causing the problem.
The capacity problems occurred mostly in cities and densely populated areas. When affected, people could experience problems with calling or receiving calls, text messaging (SMS) or data-services. A substantial number of customers were not able to use any of these services in cities or urban areas when the network capacity was overloaded, for instance the cities of Amsterdam
and Utrecht
were heavily impacted.
After being put under pressure by several consumer interest groups and Dutch media, T-Mobile started a cash-back settlement for all consumers which had complained about failing communication services.
T-Mobile invested tens of millions of euros to upgrade its network. The upgrade was to have been completed by the end of first quarter of 2011. Until then, such incoveniences may be experienced in overloaded service areas.
market in May 2005, after rebranding the EuroTel network from Eurotel Bratislava to T-Mobile Slovensko. The company Eurotel Bratislava was partially owned by Slovak Telekom, an incumbent fixed-line operator, which later acquired a one hundred percent stake in Eurotel Bratislava. T-Mobile International and DT never owned T-Mobile Slovensko directly; DT is partially owner of Slovak Telekom and thus T-Mobile International has procurement managing function within T-Mobile Slovensko. On July 1, 2010, Slovak Telekom and T-Mobile Slovensko merged into one company on the Slovak market under the name Slovak Telekom; T-Mobile brand remains active in the mobile-business area and T-Com in the fixed-business area.
The T-Mobile network provides services on three networks GSM (900/1800 MHz), UMTS (2100 MHz), Flash OFDM (450 MHz). Mobile data services are provided on GSM network with EDGE extension and on UMTS with HSPA 7,2 Mbit/s/1,54 Mbit/s. Flash OFDM is one of two commercially successfully launched solely data networks in the world. It supports download speed up to 5.3 MBit/s.
T-Mobile UK started life as Mercury One2One, the world's first GSM 1800 mobile network. It was originally operated by the now-defunct Mercury Communications
. Later known simply as One 2 One, it was purchased by DT in 1999 and rebranded as T-Mobile in 2002.
T-Mobile offers both pay-as-you-go and pay-monthly contract phones. The pay-monthly contracts consists of set amounts of minutes and 'flexible boosters' which allow the customer to change them month to month depending on their needs. T-Mobile launched their 3G UMTS services in the Autumn of 2003.
In late 2007, it was confirmed that a merger of the high-speed 3G
and HSDPA networks operated by T-Mobile UK and 3 (UK)
was to take place starting January 2008. This will leave T-Mobile and 3 with the largest HSDPA mobile phone network in the country
In 2009, France Telecom
's Orange and DT, T-Mobile's parent, announced they were in advanced talks to merge their UK operations to create the largest mobile operator. In March 2010, the European Commission approved this merger on the condition that the combined company sell 25% of the spectrum it owns on the 1800 MHz radio band and amend a network sharing agreement with smaller rival 3
. The merger was completed the following month, the new company's name later being announced as "Everything Everywhere
". Orange and T-Mobile will continue as separate brands in the market for at least eighteen months, both run by the new parent company.
T-Mobile UK's network is also used as the backbone network behind the Virgin Mobile
virtual network.
T-Mobile USA, Inc. is the Bellevue, Washington
, United States-based subsidiary of T-Mobile International AG. As of February 25, 2011, T-Mobile USA was the fourth-largest wireless carrier in the US with 33.73 million customers and annual revenue of US$21.35 billion in 2010. DT accepted a US$39 billion purchase offer from AT&T, Inc. for T-Mobile USA, Inc. The sale is expected to close in 2012 pending regulatory approval. On August 31, 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit to block AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile.
T-Mobile USA, Inc. traces its roots to the 1994 establishment of VoiceStream Wireless PCS as a subsidiary of Western Wireless Corporation
. Spun off from parent Western Wireless on May 3, 1999, VoiceStream Wireless Corporation was purchased by DT on May 31, 2001, for US$35 billion and re-named T-Mobile USA, Inc. in July 2002.
T-Mobile USA owns licenses to operate a 1900 MHz GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) PCS
(Personal Communications Service) digital cellular network
and a 1700 MHz/2100 MHz UMTS
AWS
(Advanced Wireless Services) digital cellular network that cover areas of the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. T-Mobile USA provides coverage in areas in which it does not own radio frequency
spectrum licenses via roaming agreements with other operators of compatible networks.
In addition to its cellular mobile network, T-Mobile USA operates a nationwide Wi-Fi
Internet-access network under the T-Mobile HotSpots brand. The T-Mobile HotSpots network consists of thousands of Wi-Fi access points installed in businesses, hotels and airports throughout the US.
Beginning in 2009, T-Mobile embarked upon a progressive marketing campaign with hip commercials featuring, Charles Barkley
, Dwyane Wade
, Dwight Howard
and Kym Whitley. Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones
has also appeared in television commercials for the company. The inventor of the song is unknown, but is known to have been a member of the PR team for T-Mobile.
The current five-note T-Mobile audio logo was composed by Lance Massey and was originally part of the song ("Hello Ola" by Clan Chi) used to promote DT's Tour de France
bicycle team.
In 2002, an advertisement for UK television for when T-Mobile introduced picture messaging; was aired, which shows the face of a baby be spread around a built-up area as things like billboard
s, poster
s, shirt
s, and on newspaper
s. The advertisement featuring the Röyksopp
song "So Easy
", and the song was consequently a #21 hit single in the UK, along with its double a-side partner "Remind Me". The advertisement is believed to have inspired music videos like Where Is the Love?
(by The Black Eyed Peas
) and Have a Nice Day
(by Bon Jovi
).
T-Mobile was the official sponsor of English Football League Championship
side West Bromwich Albion
. They also previously sponsored Rotherham United
as well as Scottish Premier League
clubs Rangers
and Celtic
.
As well as current kit
sponsors for Bayern Munich
, Ferencvárosi TC, and West Bromwich Albion, T-Mobile were co-sponsors of Everton
with the One2One brand and they also sponsored the 2002 FA Youth Cup
Final. T-Mobile were also kit sponsors for English club Birmingham City
. The phone company is also involved in sponsoring leagues, such as the Austrian Football Bundesliga, which is named the T-Mobile Bundesliga. It was also the official global mobile phone carrier for the 2006 FIFA World Cup
football tournament in Germany and sponsored its own cycling team, the T-Mobile Team (now Team HTC-High Road).
T-Mobile also has banner ads at some matches of Mexico's top league, Primera División de México
, despite not having a presence in that country. Presumably, this is an attempt to market to the US's Hispanic
and more specifically Mexican
community; many top-flight Mexican matches are televised in the US on both English- and Spanish-language
networks.
techniques to observe TLS (Transport Layer Security
) negotiations on SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
) sessions .
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
-based holding company
Holding company
A holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow...
for Deutsche Telekom AG
Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom AG is a telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It is the largest telecommunications company in Europe....
's various mobile communications subsidiaries outside Germany. Based in Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
, Germany, its subsidiaries operate GSM and UMTS-based cellular network
Cellular network
A cellular network is a radio network distributed over land areas called cells, each served by at least one fixed-location transceiver known as a cell site or base station. When joined together these cells provide radio coverage over a wide geographic area...
s in Europe, the United States, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
and the US Virgin Islands
United States Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands of the United States are a group of islands in the Caribbean that are an insular area of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles.The U.S...
. The company has financial stakes in mobile operators in both Central
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
.
The T-Mobile brand is present in ten European countries – Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
, Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
– as well as the US, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
Globally, T-Mobile International subsidiaries have a combined total of approximately 150 million subscribers, making the company the world's twelfth-largest mobile-phone service provider by subscribers and the third-largest multinational after the UK's Vodafone
Vodafone
Vodafone Group Plc is a global telecommunications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest mobile telecommunications company measured by revenues and the world's second-largest measured by subscribers , with around 341 million proportionate subscribers as of...
and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
's Telefónica
Telefónica
Telefónica, S.A. is a Spanish broadband and telecommunications provider in Europe and Latin America. Operating globally, it is the third largest provider in the world...
.
History
Germany's initial mobile-communications services were radiotelephoneRadiotelephone
A radiotelephone is a communications system for transmission of speech over radio. Radiotelephone systems are not necessarily interconnected with the public "land line" telephone network. "Radiotelephone" is often used to describe the usage of radio spectrum where it is important to distinguish the...
systems that were owned and operated by the state postal monopoly, Deutsche Bundespost
Deutsche Bundespost
The Deutsche Bundespost was created in 1947 as a successor to the Reichspost . Between 1947 and 1950 the enterprise was called Deutsche Post...
. On July 1, 1989, West Germany reorganized Deutsche Bundespost and consolidated telecommunications into a new unit, Deutsche Bundespost Telekom. Deutsche Bundespost Telekom built and operated Germany's first cellular mobile network, and eventually created the DeTeMobil subsidiary as a holding company for Deutsche Bundespost Telekom's wireless communications assets.
Deutsche Bundespost Telekom was renamed Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom AG is a telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It is the largest telecommunications company in Europe....
in 1995, and began to be privatized
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
in 1996. That same year, DT began to brand its subsidiaries with the T- prefix, re-naming the DeTeMobil subsidiary T-Mobil.
In 2002, as DT consolidated its international operations, it anglicized
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
the T-Mobil name to T-Mobile.
On April 1, 2010, the T-Home and T-Mobile German operations merged to form a new wholly owned DT subsidiary, Telekom Deutschland GmbH. The T-Mobile brand was discontinued in Germany and replaced with the Telekom brand. The T-Mobile brand is still used in markets outside Germany. Non-German mobile-network assets are organized into various country-specific subsidiaries under the T-Mobile International AG subsidiary of DT.
In 2010, T-Mobile UK
T-Mobile (UK)
T-Mobile UK is a mobile network and mobile broadband operator in the United Kingdom. It is owned and operated by Everything Everywhere, the UK's largest mobile network.- Company history :...
became part of a joint venture
Joint venture
A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...
with France Telecom
France Télécom
France Telecom S.A. is the main telecommunications company in France, the third-largest in Europe and one of the largest in the world. It currently employs about 180,000 people and has 192.7 million customers worldwide . In 2010 the group had revenue of €45.5 billion...
's UK mobile-network provider, Orange UK
Orange UK
Orange is a mobile network operator and internet service provider in the United Kingdom, which launched in 1994. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was purchased by France Télécom in 2000, which then adopted the Orange brand for all its other mobile communications activities...
. Combined, the two companies make the UK's largest mobile-network operator, called Everything Everywhere
Everything Everywhere
Everything Everywhere Limited is a mobile network operator and internet service provider company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the largest mobile network operator in the UK, with around 28 million customers...
. Despite the joint venture, the T-Mobile and Orange brand continue to co-exist in the UK market.
The T-Mobile brand is present in ten European countries – Austria, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
, Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
and the United Kingdom – as well as the United States, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.
Globally, T-Mobile International subsidiaries have a combined total of approximately 150 million subscribers, making T-Mobile International the world's tenth-largest mobile-phone service provider by subscribers and the third-largest multinational after the UK's Vodafone
Vodafone
Vodafone Group Plc is a global telecommunications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest mobile telecommunications company measured by revenues and the world's second-largest measured by subscribers , with around 341 million proportionate subscribers as of...
and Spain's Telefónica
Telefónica
Telefónica, S.A. is a Spanish broadband and telecommunications provider in Europe and Latin America. Operating globally, it is the third largest provider in the world...
.
European ventures
Austria
Until 2000 T-Mobile was a shareholder of the former max.mobil. network. In April 2001, it acquired one hundred percent and subsequently introduced the T-Mobile brand in Austria by rebranding max.mobil. in April 2002 as T-Mobile Austria.In 2005, it acquired former competitor tele.ring from Western Wireless International. It is now used as a discount brand. tele.ring is an Austrian mobile network operator. Since it was bought by T-Mobile in 2006, it is no longer a legally independent company. Tele.ring is administratively independent and now acts primarily as a discount-offer, similar to Yesss and BoB
Bob
Bob is a common nickname for the given name Robert.Bob may also refer to:- Science and technology :* Bob , the weight at the end of a pendulum* Hurricane Bob, first major hurricane of the 1991 Atlantic hurricane season...
of Orange
Orange Austria
Orange Austria is an Austrian mobile network operator. It started its business in 1998 as owner of the third GSM license of the country, and the first provider operating in the GSM 1800 band. Since 2004, Orange successfully applied for a UMTS-License and offers since 2005 also UMTS Services. ONE's...
and A1
Mobilkom Austria
Mobilkom Austria is a major Austrian mobile network operator. It has been operating commercially since 1994 and in testing since 1992.One of the most well-known commercial brand is A1 in Austria.The Mobilkom Austria group also owns:...
. In the past, tele.ring was known for their aggressive price-politics.
Croatia
T-Mobile entered the Croatian market in October 1999 when DT initially acquired a thirty-five percent interest in Hrvatski telekom, including its cell phone service provider Cronet. Two years later, DT signed an agreement with the Croatian government to acquire the additional sixteen percent needed for a majority holding. In January 2003, Hrvatski Telekom assembled all of its mobile activities under a single brand HTmobile. Finally, in October 2004, HTmobile became T-Mobile Hrvatska, or T-Mobile Croatia, thus joining the global T-Mobile family also by name. Since January 1, 2010, Hrvatski Telekom and T-Mobile Croatia merged into one company on the Croatian market under the name Hrvatski Telekom (in English: Croatian Telecom); the T-Mobile brand remains active in the mobile-business area and T-Com in the fixed-business area.Czech Republic
T-Mobile was previously known as Paegas in the Czech Republic.T-Mobile Czech Republic a.s. has been operating in the Czech market since 1996. As of May 30, 2008, 5.273 million customers were using T-Mobile services.
T-Mobile Czech Republic a.s. operates a public mobile communications network on the GSM standard in the 900 and 1800 MHz bands and is also authorized to operate a UMTS network. On October 19, 2005, T-Mobile was the first operator in the Czech Republic to launch this third-generation technology under the name Internet 4G.
Germany
Germany's initial mobile communications services were radiotelephoneRadiotelephone
A radiotelephone is a communications system for transmission of speech over radio. Radiotelephone systems are not necessarily interconnected with the public "land line" telephone network. "Radiotelephone" is often used to describe the usage of radio spectrum where it is important to distinguish the...
systems that were owned and operated by the state postal monopoly, Deutsche Bundespost
Deutsche Bundespost
The Deutsche Bundespost was created in 1947 as a successor to the Reichspost . Between 1947 and 1950 the enterprise was called Deutsche Post...
. These early mobile communications networks were referred to as the "A" and "B" networks.
Analog signal
An analog or analogue signal is any continuous signal for which the time varying feature of the signal is a representation of some other time varying quantity, i.e., analogous to another time varying signal. It differs from a digital signal in terms of small fluctuations in the signal which are...
, first-generation
1G
1G refers to the first-generation of wireless telephone technology, mobile telecommunications. These are the analog telecommunications standards that were introduced in the 1980s and continued until being replaced by 2G digital telecommunications...
system referred to as the "C" network or C-Netz
C-Netz
The Radio Telephone Network C , was a first generation analog cellular phone system deployed and operated in Germany by DeTeMobil...
. The network became operational in 1985 and services were marketed under the C-Tel brand. Following German reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
in 1990, the "C" network was extended to the former East Germany.
On July 1, 1992, Deutsche Bundespost Telekom's DeTeMobil subsidiary began operating Germany's first GSM 900 MHz frequency cellular network, which the organization referred to as D-Netz. Digital GSM services were marketed under the "D1" brand and DeTeMobil continued to sell analog cellular services concurrently under the existing C-Tel brand. In 1994, DeTeMobil introduced short message service
Short message service
Short Message Service is a text messaging service component of phone, web, or mobile communication systems, using standardized communications protocols that allow the exchange of short text messages between fixed line or mobile phone devices...
(SMS) services.
D1 introduced prepaid service called Xtra in 1997.
Despite the numerous changes in subsidiary names and brands, Germans sometimes continue to use theT-D1 name within Germany and refer to T-Mobile as D1.
On April 1, 2010, after the T-Home and T-Mobile German operations merged to form Telekom Deutschland GmbH, a wholly owned DT subsidiary; the T-Mobile brand was discontinued in Germany and replaced with the Telekom brand.
In T-Mobile's home market of Germany, it is the largest mobile-phone operator with almost 16 million subscribers , closely followed by its primary rival, Vodafone
Vodafone
Vodafone Group Plc is a global telecommunications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest mobile telecommunications company measured by revenues and the world's second-largest measured by subscribers , with around 341 million proportionate subscribers as of...
. T-Mobile plans to add UMTS services to its German network, having spent EUR
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
8.2 billion in August 2000 to acquire one of the six available licenses.
Beginning September 5, T-Mobile is offering pre-registration for the Apple iPhone 5
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
.
Since 2009, T-Mobile is the premier partner of McDonalds for offering wireless internet access in all German restaurants.
Hungary
In May 2004, the same day as Hungary joined the European UnionEuropean Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, the former company, named Westel (which was owned entirely by the former Matáv) changed its name, and the entire marketing. Westel was the most popular cellphone network in Hungary at the time. The company was called T-Mobile Hungary, but after some financial decisions, as with the other T- companies, it formed to Magyar Telekom Nyrt. Mobil Szolgáltatások Üzletág (Hungarian Telekom, Mobile Services Business Unit), but they still say T-Mobile. T-Mobile also provides high-speed services, like EDGE
Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution
Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution is a digital mobile phone technology that allows improved data transmission rates as a backward-compatible extension of GSM...
, 3G
3G
3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...
, and HSDPA in the major cities of Hungary.
Macedonia
In Macedonia, T-Mobile was previously known as Mobimak. The company has been operating in the Macedonian market since 1996. On September 7, 2006, Mobimak accepted the international T-Mobile branding. By June 2007, T-Mobile reached one million subscribers, out of which eighty-five percent were active and using their services. T-Mobile MK covers ninety-eight percent of the population. It has a GSM 900 license, offers GPRS, MMS and mobile internet services using T-Mobile HotSpots and has implemented the EDGE fast mobile internet specification. T-Mobile Macedonia applied for a UMTS license on August 1, 2007. The codes are 070/071/072.Montenegro
The T-Mobile brand entered the Montenegrin market in 2006 through the acquisition of MoNet GSM mobile provider. T-Mobile Montenegro (T-Mobile Crna Gora) is fully owned by T-Crnogorski Telekom, which is itself owned by Magyar TelekomMagyar Telekom
Magyar Telekom Nyrt. is Hungary's largest telecommunications company. The former monopolist is now a fully consolidated subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom....
, a DT subsidiary. Although the acquisition by Magyar Telekom was done in 2005, it was not until September 26, 2006, that the MoNet GSM operator was re-branded as T-Mobile Montenegro.
MoNet GSM launched on July 1, 2000, as part of Telecom Montenegro
Telecom Montenegro
Crnogorski Telekom is the leading telecommunications operator in Montenegro.-General introduction:Crnogorski Telekom is the largest telecommunication company in Montenegro. It provides a full range of fixed-line, mobile,...
. It became an independent incorporated limited-liability company a month later, on August 1, 2000.
The company currently holds around 34 percent of the Montenegrin market and uses GSM 900
GSM frequency ranges
GSM frequency bands or frequency ranges are the cellular frequencies designated by the ITU for the operation of GSM mobile phones.- GSM frequency bands :There are fourteen bands defined in 3GPP TS 45.005, which succeeded 3GPP TS 05.05:...
, GPRS, and EDGE
Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution
Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution is a digital mobile phone technology that allows improved data transmission rates as a backward-compatible extension of GSM...
technologies. Since June 21, 2007, 3G
3G
3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...
/UMTS services have been available in larger cities as well as on the coast.
The Netherlands
T-Mobile entered the DutchNetherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
market by the acquisition of Ben
Ben NL
Ben NL or Ben is a Dutch virtual mobile network operated by T-Mobile NL. It offers voice, text and data service at highly discounted rates. Ben only offers 3 subscription types ranging in price from € 4,95 for 100 minutes/text messages per month to € 14,95 for 500 minutes/text messages per month.In...
on September 20, 2002. T-Mobile Netherlands, a wholly owned subsidiary of T-Mobile International, acquired Orange Netherlands from France Télécom
France Télécom
France Telecom S.A. is the main telecommunications company in France, the third-largest in Europe and one of the largest in the world. It currently employs about 180,000 people and has 192.7 million customers worldwide . In 2010 the group had revenue of €45.5 billion...
for EUR 1.33 billion. This makes it the second largest mobile telephone operator in the country behind KPN
KPN
KPN is a Dutch landline and mobile telecommunications company, including both 2G and 3G mobile operations...
.
Capacity problems
T-Mobile announced in May 2010 that it was dealing with major capacity-problems on its 3G network. T-Mobile admitted the problems after a lot of pressure from customers and Dutch media. T-Mobile could not keep up with the growing data demand of smartphones, caused by the amount of new customers that wanted an iPhoneIPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
, which was at the time sold exclusively by AT&T. T-Mobile failed to keep up with the demand, and capacity problems on the network were the result.
T-Mobile denied the problems at first by saying to complaining customers that their mobile phone or SIM-card
Subscriber Identity Module
A subscriber identity module or subscriber identification module is an integrated circuit that securely stores the International Mobile Subscriber Identity and the related key used to identify and authenticate subscriber on mobile telephony devices .A SIM is held on a removable SIM card, which...
was causing the problem.
The capacity problems occurred mostly in cities and densely populated areas. When affected, people could experience problems with calling or receiving calls, text messaging (SMS) or data-services. A substantial number of customers were not able to use any of these services in cities or urban areas when the network capacity was overloaded, for instance the cities of Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
and Utrecht
Utrecht
Utrecht is a city in the Netherlands.The name may also refer to:* Utrecht , of which Utrecht is the capital* Utrecht , including the city of Utrecht* Bishopric of Utrecht* Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Utrecht...
were heavily impacted.
After being put under pressure by several consumer interest groups and Dutch media, T-Mobile started a cash-back settlement for all consumers which had complained about failing communication services.
T-Mobile invested tens of millions of euros to upgrade its network. The upgrade was to have been completed by the end of first quarter of 2011. Until then, such incoveniences may be experienced in overloaded service areas.
Poland
T-Mobile (Poland) serves over thirteen million customers, and owns licenses for GSM 900, 1800, and UMTS. Formerly Era, rebranding took place on June 5, 2011. The décor of Era's offices was updated. The rebranding was preceded by a number of concerts, featuring underground dubstep scene artists, such as Caspa & Rusko, and one major world-known music star whose name has not been revealed yet.Slovakia
The T-Mobile brand entered the SlovakSlovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
market in May 2005, after rebranding the EuroTel network from Eurotel Bratislava to T-Mobile Slovensko. The company Eurotel Bratislava was partially owned by Slovak Telekom, an incumbent fixed-line operator, which later acquired a one hundred percent stake in Eurotel Bratislava. T-Mobile International and DT never owned T-Mobile Slovensko directly; DT is partially owner of Slovak Telekom and thus T-Mobile International has procurement managing function within T-Mobile Slovensko. On July 1, 2010, Slovak Telekom and T-Mobile Slovensko merged into one company on the Slovak market under the name Slovak Telekom; T-Mobile brand remains active in the mobile-business area and T-Com in the fixed-business area.
The T-Mobile network provides services on three networks GSM (900/1800 MHz), UMTS (2100 MHz), Flash OFDM (450 MHz). Mobile data services are provided on GSM network with EDGE extension and on UMTS with HSPA 7,2 Mbit/s/1,54 Mbit/s. Flash OFDM is one of two commercially successfully launched solely data networks in the world. It supports download speed up to 5.3 MBit/s.
United Kingdom
Mercury Communications
Mercury Communications was a national telephone company in the United Kingdom. The company was formed in 1981 as a subsidiary of Cable & Wireless to challenge the monopoly of British Telecom which was privatised in 1984...
. Later known simply as One 2 One, it was purchased by DT in 1999 and rebranded as T-Mobile in 2002.
T-Mobile offers both pay-as-you-go and pay-monthly contract phones. The pay-monthly contracts consists of set amounts of minutes and 'flexible boosters' which allow the customer to change them month to month depending on their needs. T-Mobile launched their 3G UMTS services in the Autumn of 2003.
In late 2007, it was confirmed that a merger of the high-speed 3G
3G
3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...
and HSDPA networks operated by T-Mobile UK and 3 (UK)
Hutchison 3G
3 is a brand name under which several UMTS-based mobile phone networks and Broadband Internet Providers are operated in Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom...
was to take place starting January 2008. This will leave T-Mobile and 3 with the largest HSDPA mobile phone network in the country
In 2009, France Telecom
France Télécom
France Telecom S.A. is the main telecommunications company in France, the third-largest in Europe and one of the largest in the world. It currently employs about 180,000 people and has 192.7 million customers worldwide . In 2010 the group had revenue of €45.5 billion...
's Orange and DT, T-Mobile's parent, announced they were in advanced talks to merge their UK operations to create the largest mobile operator. In March 2010, the European Commission approved this merger on the condition that the combined company sell 25% of the spectrum it owns on the 1800 MHz radio band and amend a network sharing agreement with smaller rival 3
Hutchison 3G
3 is a brand name under which several UMTS-based mobile phone networks and Broadband Internet Providers are operated in Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom...
. The merger was completed the following month, the new company's name later being announced as "Everything Everywhere
Everything Everywhere
Everything Everywhere Limited is a mobile network operator and internet service provider company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the largest mobile network operator in the UK, with around 28 million customers...
". Orange and T-Mobile will continue as separate brands in the market for at least eighteen months, both run by the new parent company.
T-Mobile UK's network is also used as the backbone network behind the Virgin Mobile
Virgin Mobile
Virgin Mobile is a brand used by many mobile phone service providers across the globe; its headquarters are based in the United Kingdom. Virgin Mobile has local operations in Australia, Canada, France, India, South Africa, Greece, United Kingdom and the United States. It briefly also had operations...
virtual network.
Ownership stakes
| Albania Albania Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea... — |
AMC Albanian Mobile Communications AMC is a Telecommunications company in Albania. It is a member of Cosmote Group since 2000, launched commercial operations in 1996, being the first mobile telecommunications company to operate in Albania... 1 |
| Bulgaria Bulgaria Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east... — |
GLOBUL GloBul GLOBUL is the second-largest Bulgarian GSM/UMTS operator. The company was founded in 2001 and is 100% owned by Greek telecommunications corporation Cosmote, which is active in four Balkan countries: Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, and Albania... 1 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the... — |
HT d.d. (ERONET) HT Mostar HT is a telecommunications company based in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is one of the three official telecommunications operators in the county along with BH Telecom and Telekom Srpske... |
| Greece — | Cosmote Cosmote COSMOTE is the largest mobile network operator in Greece, with 7.9 million subscribers. The company is headquartered in Athens and it is a fully owned subsidiary of the Hellenic Telecommunications Organization , the incumbent telecommunications provider in Greece... 1 |
| Romania Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea... — |
Cosmote Cosmote România Cosmote România is a Romanian mobile phone operator. It is the third largest mobile phone operator in the country, following Orange Romania and Vodafone Romania after surpassing Zapp Mobile... 1 |
- 1 Deutsche Telekom controls 40 percent plus one of the shares of parent company OTEOTEHellenic Telecommunications Organization S.A. , usually known by its Greek initials OTE, is the dominant telecommunications provider in Greece. Formerly a state-owned monopoly, OTE was part-privatized in 1998 and is now listed on the Athens and New York Stock Exchanges...
.
United States venture
Bellevue, Washington
Bellevue is a city in the Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, across Lake Washington from Seattle. Long known as a suburb or satellite city of Seattle, it is now categorized as an edge city or a boomburb. The population was 122,363 at the 2010 census.Downtown Bellevue is...
, United States-based subsidiary of T-Mobile International AG. As of February 25, 2011, T-Mobile USA was the fourth-largest wireless carrier in the US with 33.73 million customers and annual revenue of US$21.35 billion in 2010. DT accepted a US$39 billion purchase offer from AT&T, Inc. for T-Mobile USA, Inc. The sale is expected to close in 2012 pending regulatory approval. On August 31, 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit to block AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile.
T-Mobile USA, Inc. traces its roots to the 1994 establishment of VoiceStream Wireless PCS as a subsidiary of Western Wireless Corporation
Western Wireless Corporation
Western Wireless Corporation was a cellular network operator that provided mobile telecommunications service to subscribers in 19 western states and seven countries. Western Wireless marketed analog cellular service under the CELLULAR ONE brand in 88 FCC-defined rural service areas and digital PCS...
. Spun off from parent Western Wireless on May 3, 1999, VoiceStream Wireless Corporation was purchased by DT on May 31, 2001, for US$35 billion and re-named T-Mobile USA, Inc. in July 2002.
T-Mobile USA owns licenses to operate a 1900 MHz GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) PCS
Personal Communications Service
At the most basic level Personal Communications Service or PCS describes a set of wireless communications capabilities that allows some combination of terminal mobility, personal mobility, and service profile management...
(Personal Communications Service) digital cellular network
Cellular network
A cellular network is a radio network distributed over land areas called cells, each served by at least one fixed-location transceiver known as a cell site or base station. When joined together these cells provide radio coverage over a wide geographic area...
and a 1700 MHz/2100 MHz UMTS
W-CDMA (UMTS)
W-CDMA , UMTS-FDD, UTRA-FDD, or IMT-2000 CDMA Direct Spread is an air interface standard found in 3G mobile telecommunications networks. It is the basis of Japan's NTT DoCoMo's FOMA service and the most-commonly used member of the UMTS family and sometimes used as a synonym for UMTS...
AWS
Advanced Wireless Services
AWS-1 or UMTS band IV, is a wireless telecommunications spectrum band used for mobile voice and data services, video, and messaging. AWS-1 is used in the United States and Canada...
(Advanced Wireless Services) digital cellular network that cover areas of the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. T-Mobile USA provides coverage in areas in which it does not own radio frequency
Radio frequency
Radio frequency is a rate of oscillation in the range of about 3 kHz to 300 GHz, which corresponds to the frequency of radio waves, and the alternating currents which carry radio signals...
spectrum licenses via roaming agreements with other operators of compatible networks.
In addition to its cellular mobile network, T-Mobile USA operates a nationwide Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
Internet-access network under the T-Mobile HotSpots brand. The T-Mobile HotSpots network consists of thousands of Wi-Fi access points installed in businesses, hotels and airports throughout the US.
Subscriber statistics
- All T-Mobile networks (including affiliates and minority owned): 148.4 million (as of March 2009)
Marketing
Charles Barkley
Charles Wade Barkley is a former American professional basketball player. Nicknamed "Sir Charles" and "The Round Mound of Rebound", Barkley established himself as one of the National Basketball Association's most dominating power forwards...
, Dwyane Wade
Dwyane Wade
Dwyane Tyrone Wade, Jr. nicknamed Flash or D-Wade, is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat. Awarded 2006 Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated, Wade has established himself as one of the most well-known and popular players in the league...
, Dwight Howard
Dwight Howard
Dwight David Howard is an American basketball player for the Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Association . Howard, who usually plays center but can also play power forward, had an outstanding high school career at Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy...
and Kym Whitley. Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones, CBE, is a British actress. She began her career on stage at an early age. After starring in a number of United Kingdom and United States television films and small roles in films, she came to prominence with roles in Hollywood movies such as the 1998 action film The Mask of...
has also appeared in television commercials for the company. The inventor of the song is unknown, but is known to have been a member of the PR team for T-Mobile.
The current five-note T-Mobile audio logo was composed by Lance Massey and was originally part of the song ("Hello Ola" by Clan Chi) used to promote DT's Tour de France
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...
bicycle team.
In 2002, an advertisement for UK television for when T-Mobile introduced picture messaging; was aired, which shows the face of a baby be spread around a built-up area as things like billboard
Billboard
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
s, poster
Poster
A poster is any piece of printed paper designed to be attached to a wall or vertical surface. Typically posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text. Posters are designed to be both eye-catching and informative. Posters may be...
s, shirt
Shirt
A shirt is a cloth garment for the upper body. Originally an undergarment worn exclusively by men, it has become, in American English, a catch-all term for almost any garment other than outerwear such as sweaters, coats, jackets, or undergarments such as bras, vests or base layers...
s, and on newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s. The advertisement featuring the Röyksopp
Röyksopp
Röyksopp is a Norwegian electronic music duo from Tromsø, formed in 1998. Since their inception, the band's line-up has included Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland....
song "So Easy
So Easy
"So Easy" is a song by Norwegian duo Röyksopp, released as their first single. Originally it was released in 1999, with only 500 copies made and distributed. Later it was re-released on Röyksopp's debut album Melody A.M....
", and the song was consequently a #21 hit single in the UK, along with its double a-side partner "Remind Me". The advertisement is believed to have inspired music videos like Where Is the Love?
Where Is the Love?
"Where Is the Love?" is a song recorded by the American hip hop group The Black Eyed Peas for their third album, Elephunk. It is the band's first record to feature Fergie. The song features vocals from Justin Timberlake, although he is not officially credited on the single release.The single was...
(by The Black Eyed Peas
The Black Eyed Peas
The Black Eyed Peas are an American pop group , formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1995. The group includes rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, and Taboo, and singer Fergie. Since the release of their third album Elephunk in 2003, the group has sold an estimated 56 million records worldwide...
) and Have a Nice Day
Have a Nice Day (Bon Jovi song)
"Have a Nice Day" is Bon Jovi's first single off the 2005 album Have a Nice Day. It was first performed at the 2004 American Music Awards, where an incomplete version of the song was played. The final version of the song was first performed in full at the Philadelphia Live 8 concert on July 2,...
(by Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi is an American rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Formed in 1983, Bon Jovi consists of lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi , guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, as well as current bassist Hugh McDonald...
).
Sponsorships
Football League Championship
The Football League Championship is the highest division of The Football League and second-highest division overall in the English football league system after the Premier League...
side West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion F.C.
West Bromwich Albion Football Club, also known as West Brom, The Baggies, The Throstles, Albion or WBA, are an English Premier League association football club based in West Bromwich in the West Midlands...
. They also previously sponsored Rotherham United
Rotherham United F.C.
Rotherham United Football Club are an English professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, who compete in League Two, the fourth tier of English football. The club's colours have traditionally been red and white, although these have evolved through history...
as well as Scottish Premier League
Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League , also known as the SPL , is a professional league competition for association football clubs in Scotland...
clubs Rangers
Rangers F.C.
Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...
and Celtic
Celtic F.C.
Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League. The club was established in 1887, and played its first game in 1888. Celtic have won the Scottish League Championship on 42 occasions, most recently in the...
.
As well as current kit
Kit (football)
In association football, as in a number of sports, kit refers to the standard equipment and attire worn by players. The term "kit" should be distinguished from a "strip" , which refers to just the shirt, shorts and socks, although the terms are sometimes used interchangeably...
sponsors for Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich , is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national titles and 15 cups....
, Ferencvárosi TC, and West Bromwich Albion, T-Mobile were co-sponsors of Everton
Everton F.C.
Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...
with the One2One brand and they also sponsored the 2002 FA Youth Cup
FA Youth Cup
The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under–18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part...
Final. T-Mobile were also kit sponsors for English club Birmingham City
Birmingham City F.C.
Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943.They were relegated at the end of the...
. The phone company is also involved in sponsoring leagues, such as the Austrian Football Bundesliga, which is named the T-Mobile Bundesliga. It was also the official global mobile phone carrier for the 2006 FIFA World Cup
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...
football tournament in Germany and sponsored its own cycling team, the T-Mobile Team (now Team HTC-High Road).
T-Mobile also has banner ads at some matches of Mexico's top league, Primera División de México
Primera División de México
The Primera División Profesional , known simply as the Primera División, is the top level of the Mexican football league system and is administered by the Mexican Football Federation. It was established in 1943 and as of 2011 has 18 clubs. Up to June 2011, it was divided into three groups competing...
, despite not having a presence in that country. Presumably, this is an attempt to market to the US's Hispanic
Hispanic and Latino Americans
Hispanic or Latino Americans are Americans with origins in the Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain, and in general all persons in the United States who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino.1990 Census of Population and Housing: A self-designated classification for people whose origins...
and more specifically Mexican
Mexican American
Mexican Americans are Americans of Mexican descent. As of July 2009, Mexican Americans make up 10.3% of the United States' population with over 31,689,000 Americans listed as of Mexican ancestry. Mexican Americans comprise 66% of all Hispanics and Latinos in the United States...
community; many top-flight Mexican matches are televised in the US on both English- and Spanish-language
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
networks.
Controversies
In 2011 T-Mobile UK started blocking secure mail transfers by forging TCP reset (RST) packets to the client and server. They used Deep Packet InspectionDeep packet inspection
Deep Packet Inspection is a form of computer network packet filtering that examines the data part of a packet as it passes an inspection point, searching for protocol non-compliance, viruses, spam, intrusions or predefined criteria to decide if the packet can...
techniques to observe TLS (Transport Layer Security
Transport Layer Security
Transport Layer Security and its predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer , are cryptographic protocols that provide communication security over the Internet...
) negotiations on SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol is an Internet standard for electronic mail transmission across Internet Protocol networks. SMTP was first defined by RFC 821 , and last updated by RFC 5321 which includes the extended SMTP additions, and is the protocol in widespread use today...
) sessions .
See also
- Electronic BeatsElectronic BeatsElectronic Beats is a T-Mobile funded lifestyle concept which is composed of four projects:*Magazine: Electronic Beats Magazine is a quarterly publication, revolving around music, culture, fashion, travel and lifestyle issues...
- Microsoft data loss 2009
- Open Handset AllianceOpen Handset AllianceThe Open Handset Alliance is a consortium of 84 firms to develop open standards for mobile devices. Member firms include Google, HTC, Sony, Dell, Intel, Motorola, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, T-Mobile, Nvidia, and Wind River Systems.-History:The OHA was...
- T-Mobile TeamTeam HTC-ColumbiaHTC-Highroad is a professional cycling team competing in international road bicycle races. Their current title sponsor is HTC Corporation, a Taiwanese manufacturer of smartphones. High Road Sports is the management company of team manager Bob Stapleton. Past title sponsors include Columbia...
- T-Mobile ArenaT-Mobile ArenaTesla Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Prague, Czech Republic. The arena was opened in 1962, as Sportovní hala and has a seating capacity for 13,995 people, for ice hockey games....
- T-OnlineT-OnlineT-Online, a former subsidiary and now business unit of Deutsche Telekom, is the biggest internet service provider in Germany. It evolved out of the proprietary German Bildschirmtext information service in 1995...
External links
- T-Mobile International
- Deutsche Telekom (DT) Parent company of T-Mobile International AG