T-Mobile is one of the largest mobile groups in the world. With wholly owned operators in Germany, the UK, the United States, Austria, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, as well as major stakes in Poland (PTC – 45%) and Russia (MTS –40.1%), T-Mobile serves the communications needs of more than 87 million people worldwide. The company is one of the four strategic divisions of Deutsche Telekom, Europe’s largest telecommunications group.  For group information go to T-Mobile International

Established in 1992 as a German network operator, T-Mobile acquired its Austrian and Czech operations in 1996, the UK network in 1999, the US in 2001 and the Netherlands a year later. All were operating under the T-Mobile brand by February 2003. T-Mobile has one group-wide common technology platform, based on GSM, the world’s most successful digital wireless standard. This also makes T-Mobile the only mobile communications provider with a seamless transatlantic network.

The group has six UMTS or ‘3G’ licences covering most of its major markets including Germany, the UK, Austria and the Netherlands, establishing the platform from which to offer some of the best and fastest data services on an international scale.   In September 2001, T-Mobile and mm02 announced a UMTS network partnership in the UK and Germany. In April 2003, the company joined forces with Telefonica Moviles and TIM to create joint services in roaming, voice, data and mobile Internet as well as handset development and procurement. The alliance was further strengthened in June 2003 when Orange announced its participation. T-Mobile also teamed up with Vodafone, Orange and Telefonica Moviles to form Simpay, allowing people to buy low-cost items via their mobile phone account.  This collaborative approach has helped T-Mobile establish the world’s largest GPRS roaming footprint covering 27 countries and puts it firmly on track to achieving its strategic aim of being among the top three players worldwide. In the UK, one of the most competitive markets in mobile telecommunications, T-Mobile has over 12.5 million subscribers from the 10.75 million it had when the company re-branded in 2002.