Michal Korec, spokesman Slovak Telekom (source: Slovak Telekom )
What synergic effects does affiliation with the DT group bring to Slovak Telekom?
Michal Korec, spokesman Slovak Telekom (MK): Among the entire DT group we pursue sharing of ideas and know-how. Now we are working on building an integrated Pan-European network, which will bring a lot of advantages to clients. Of them the most important are a significant shortening of the time needed for the launch of new products on the market, acceleration of innovations and a joint product portfolio adapted to local requirements and specificities of the market.
The history of ST goes back to the times when telephones meant only fixed lines and the early emergence of mobiles. What challenges are presented by such a long presence on the market?
MK: Thanks to our long presence in the market we have collected a lot of experiences and, while ST’s networks are of high quality in the long term, it is not easy to keep the pace with the development of technologies and we must constantly invest into our networks and replacement of old technologies with the latest ones. For example, last year we completely switched off all of our analogous exchanges and now we provide all fixed-line services exclusively on internet protocols. But fixed lines are not history in any case, only technologies have changed.
We try to keep being the leader and innovator and this philosophy has been fruitful for us, attracting clients requiring top services in the long run.
What share of the population and territory of Slovakia does ST cover with its 4G network? Which factors will determine the further development of this network?
MK: Currently we cover as much as 57.8 percent of the population with the 4G/LTE network while we strive to extend coverage not only into towns but also rural areas.
One of the main trends is certainly acceleration of the mobile connection. In June we, as the first operator in Slovakia, launched 4G with the speed as high as 225 Mbps in densely populated parts of Nitra. After assessing experiences from its real operation we will work on increasing the speed also in other densely populated areas.
What new challenges does technological evolution bring to ST also with respect to the abilities of people to effectively use new technologies?
MK: Slovak clients are very fond of new technologies and love to try new services. They are familiar with the field of data and certainly they are very well oriented on the market of smartphones or apps for mobile phones. Mobile data, tablets and other novelties are becoming common among all age groups of users.
For what other purposes will mobile phones be used in the future apart from calling, sending text messages or taking pictures?
MK: There are two trends affecting usage of phones. The first one is mobile data and the increasing speeds that are bringing new opportunities. For example sending data via 4G is approximately 20-times faster than with 3G.
The second direction is mobile apps via which clients can change their smartphones into multimedia devices.
Where do you see the development of ST over the next five years?
MK: Today ST is not only a provider of internet connection, fixed line, TV signal or mobile connection. Our ambition is to bring residential clients an increasing amount of added value, especially in the form of various innovations. For example, we offer our clients mobile television, streaming music service and many useful applications. Other services like mobile payment are promising as well. Within the business sector ST is perceived as a stable and reliable partner. We are one of the biggest providers of data services, virtual servers and clouds in Slovakia.
The market of information and telecommunication technologies is changing rapidly. The future is in Big Data, cloud, M2M, insurance, financial, security or medical services – and these are only some of the opportunities. Our goal is to focus on these topics, to grasp them and offer them to our clients.
Moreover, in the auction of frequencies for 4G we obtained also parts of the spectrum in the 800 Mhz band, which is suitable especially for coverage of rural areas. Thus in case of 4G/LTE the technological development has advanced to a generation that is very suitable also for spreading the signal into rural areas into which it was not economically reasonable for telecom operators to build necessary infrastructure and provide internet or mobile services.
