The Evolution of the Hungarian Mobile Communications Market and T-Mobile Hungary

Abstract

Foreign direct investment, and acquisitions specifically, have played a central role in the transformation of the Hungarian mobile communications industry. In particular, foreign acquisitions by consortia and the gradual buy-out of small local and foreign co-owners contributed to the consolidation of the industry, both in Hungary and worldwide (see also Chapter 6). In only a decade, the industry and its players have gone through tremendous changes, making it almost impossible for the developments to be covered comprehensively and in depth here. Therefore, we focus mainly on the voice segment of the industry, and investigate the gradual transformation of the market leader, WESTEL, which was stepwise acquired and then integrated and rebranded as T-Mobile Hungary by a global player in the industry, Deutsche Telekom.