31st December - The Recyklístek project in which T-Mobile offers, in exchange for each returned mobile phone, a CZK 200 voucher which can be used for the purchase of goods in T­-Mobile shops, has proven to be a huge success; customers have returned more than 20,000 unused handsets. This is an astonishing number, particularly compared to previous years: in 2005, customers returned 372 handsets to T-Mobile shops and 683 in 2006. Given the excellent result of the project so far, T­Mobile has decided to print additional vouchers so that those who received a new mobile phone as a Christmas gift can also return their obsolete handsets.

“We were surprised by the huge interest of customers in returning their obsolete mobile phones. It is now evident that we were overly pessimistic when assessing the willingness of Czech people to recycle electronic goods,” says Martina Kemrová, spokesperson for T-Mobile, adding: “Even the supplemental recycling vouchers disappeared from our shops within a few weeks.”

The T-Mobile recycling campaign, which started on 7 November 2007 and lasts until 31 January 2008, is based on offering customers vouchers for each obsolete mobile phone that is returned to T-Mobile shops. The value of the voucher, called Recyklístek (recycling voucher), is CZK 200 incl. VAT and it can be used when purchasing a new handset, Twist set or accessories at T-Mobile shops. Within three weeks following the start of the campaign, more than 12,000 recycling vouchers were exchanged for old telephones, and most of the remaining 10,000 vouchers were distributed in the following two weeks. By now, customers might no longer be able to get a voucher in any T-Mobile shop. That is why T-Mobile has decided to print some additional vouchers for the second time so that there are enough available in January. This will be appreciated particularly by those who received a handset as a Christmas gift.

“We would like to thank all customers who got involved in the project, and we apologize to those who did not receive a voucher due to the limited stock. As we do not want to disappoint any of our customers, we will soon issue more recycling vouchers in our shops so that people can receive vouchers in the first month of 2008,” says Martina Kemrová.

The campaign supporting the recycling of obsolete handsets is a part of T-Mobile’s corporate social responsibility program. Several recycling vouchers can be used at the same time (up to five vouchers per person) and they can be combined with currently offered sales and discounts. The vouchers can only be used when purchasing new devices and accessories; they cannot be used for the purpose of paying Statements of Services, topping up credit on Twist cards, etc. When returning an old mobile phone to a T-Mobile shop, customers will need to fill in a simple form and prove their identity with an ID card or other valid form of identification. If there is a suspicion that a handset might have been stolen, the returned item will be checked against the database of stolen mobile phones.