The number of active mobile phone users in Hungary grew by 80,000 in May, the highest monthly increase since January, according to figures released by the telecom regulator HIF.

Hungary's three GSM companies had 7,211,000 active clients at the end of May as the rate of penetration rose from 70.4% in April to 71.2% in May. During May, Westel Mobil increased its share of active users from 48.04% to 48.16% and Vodafone's share rose from 13.92% to 14.33% while Pannon GSM's share declined from 38.05% to 37.05%.

Since market share figures have been published, May 2003 was the first month for Pannon GSM losing active users, a calculated 7,791 of them to 2,705,707. Westel Mobil's active users rose by 47,072 to 3,472,997 and Vodafone broke the one million line with an increase of 40,699 users to 1,033,990.

In the January-May period, the overall number of active users rose by 348,606, including a 200,936 rise in Vodafone users, a 77,954 rise in Pannon GSM users and a 70,437 rise in Westel Mobil users. In the same period last year, the three companies enlisted 772,288 new users, including 166,724 in May.

The number of users generating traffic rose 92,000 in May to 6,798,000. In terms of these users, Westel Mobil's market share rose 0.23 percentage points (60,257 users) to 48.65%, Pannon GSM's fell 0.57 percentage points (4,275) to 36.84% and Vodafone's rose 0.34 percentage points (36,172) to 14.51%.

(NewsBase 30.vi.03)