30th September 2005 - T-Mobile last night defeated Skype, O2, Caudwell Communications and SpinVox to win the coveted CNET Networks UK Telecommunications Sector Technology Project of the Year award.

T-Mobile won the award for its world first broadband Wi-Fi service on Southern Rail Express trains between London and Brighton - one of the busiest railway routes for business people travelling to and from London.

T-Mobile HotSpot on-train service provides customers the opportunity to experience broadband speeds from their Wi-Fi enabled laptops and Wi-Fi enabled PDA devices for the entire journey between Brighton to London, enabling them to send and receive emails or surf the internet securely while travelling.

T-Mobile has been recognised by CNET Networks UK for its innovation, application and excellence in technology and business through delivering T-Mobile HotSpot on trains. The award honours T-Mobile as setting the standard for the telecommunications industry. The Telecommunications Technology Project of the Year award specifically recognises the UK telecommunications, cable company or other communications service provider that can point to project that has had a profound positive impact on its customers and overall business.

Brian McBride, Managing Director, T-Mobile UK commented: "T-Mobile's introduction of a genuine broadband Wi-Fi service on trains was a pioneering move. We witnessed a growing demand from business people for secure access to email on the move, and broadband Wi-Fi on trains is a service we believe customers have been crying out for, for some time.

"T-Mobile is able to offer unparalleled access to email securely on the London to Brighton line by maintaining a constant data session for the entire journey, something other solutions just can't offer today."

The service is made possible through a partnership with Southern (providing access to the trains and locations where the service will be offered), Nomad Digital (providing the technology) and T-Mobile (offering the Wi-Fi service to customers).

T-Mobile's HotSpot service is made possible by the installation of Wi-Fi access points within the train's carriages, which in turn are connected to a WiMax network running alongside the tracks. These links pass data in both directions at rates of up to 32Mb/s, making this the fastest data link to a train anywhere in the world.

T-Mobile is the world's largest Wi-Fi provider in the western hemisphere, operating under one brand name: T-Mobile HotSpot. There are currently more than 8,000 T-Mobile HotSpot locations across Europe and the US. T-Mobile HotSpot service customers are provided with seamless access to the T-Mobile HotSpot service across Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, The Netherlands, UK and US.

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