Customers in all of Germany's highly populated areas can also go online via UMTS (Universal mobile telecommunications system), the third generation (3G ) mobile communications technology. We reached our target of covering 85 percent of Germany with UMTS in late 2011. With the new UMTS-based protocol, High Speed Packet Access+ (HSPA+), data transmission speeds can be increased to DSL level, i.e., up to 42.2 Mbit/s. In line with our role as a quality leader, we will continue to expand the UMTS network in 2012 to provide quality services to our customers.

The U.S.-based subsidiary continued to expand its HSPA+ services nationwide in 2011. By the end of the year, data rates of up to 21 Mbit/s were available to 200 million residents in 208 regional markets. Maximum data transmission speeds as high as 42 Mbit/s were available to 180 million residents in 163 market regions.

CR Report from the previous year 

The Croatian subsidiary T-HT Hrvatski Telekom upgraded parts of its 3G  network with the HSPA+ standard in 2011. The upgraded network enables downlink speeds of up to 21 Mbit/s and uplink speeds of up to 5.8 Mbit/s. T-HT Hrvatski Telekom plans to migrate more than half of its 3G  network to HSPA+ over the course of 2012.

Crnogorski Telekom's 3G  network covers 15 cities or 67 percent of the population at data rates of up to 21 Mbit/s. By introducing the dual carrier technology, the Montenegrin subsidiary was able to set up HSPA+ with a data transfer speed of 42 Mbit/s in six cities.

Crnogorski Telekom's expansion strategy is twofold: increasing capacities in urban areas and expanding network coverage in rural regions. By pursuing this strategy, the subsidiary was able to provide 2G  coverage to 99 percent of the population or 86 percent of the regions in 2011.

The Croatian subsidiary successfully conducted tests on its UMTS technology in a 900 MHz test network in 2011. The results show that fast, cost-efficient, nation-wide coverage can be provided in the mobile broadband network thanks to the use of 3G  in the 900 MHz band.

The company is planning to launch 900 MHz UMTS in early 2012. The technology will make it possible to achieve maximum data transmission rates of 7.2 Mbit/s.

In 2011 the Macedonian subsidiary was operating the country's fastest third generation mobile communications network with speeds of up to 21 Mbit/s.

T-HT Hrvatski Telekom plans to upgrade its entire mobile communications network. The company began upgrading its 3G  network in 2011 and is going to include its current 2G  network in the process in 2012. The technology used needs to enable operation of the future LTE network as well. The first step will be to replace the old base station control units.

Cosmote Greece increased its 3G  network by 38 percent and average data transmission speed by 45 percent in 2011. More than 98 percent of the Greek population now has access to Cosmote's new 3G  network. A nation-wide study on the quality of different data networks commissioned by Cosmote Greece was conducted in cooperation with the National Technical University from March to July 2011. The study showed that Cosmote Greece had the highest data transmission speeds for mobile Internet.