[T-Mobile begins free pilot project offering WLAN service on 7 Deutche Bahn ICEs. Trains can be identified by the HotSpot logo from T-Mobile. Additionally, 20 ICE stations across Germany have also been equipped with T-Mobile HotSpot access.]

High-speed communication on high-speed trains: T-Mobile Deutschland and Deutsche Bahn send broadband Internet on a rail trip. The new service is available on ICEs on the Cologne-Dortmund pilot route. This enables fast and comfortable access to the World Wide Web or the corporate intranet using W-LAN (Wireless Local Ares Network). Train travelers can check and answer emails during the train journey, thereby using a further service from the DB MobilityNet, the information and communication service for rail passengers. Another part of the cooperation is the expansion of major stations to Hotspots, the public W-LAN locations from T-Mobile.

"This service offers our customers fast access to the Internet as part of DB MobilityNet, upping rail's position in the attractiveness stakes against the car. With us, customers can work or relax, using their time productively," says Hartmut Mehdorn, CEO of Deutsche Bahn AG.

Kai-Uwe Ricke, CEO of Deutsche Telekom AG, emphasizes: "Deutsche Telekom offers its customers tailor-made services for broadband communication in landline and mobile networks. Now we're well on the way to realizing data communication at broadband quality on ICEs. With this technological innovation, we're starting a whole new chapter in Germany's broadband story."

For the pilot project, Deutsche Bahn and T-Mobile fitted a total of seven ICE 3 with the technology for broadband communication. The trains can be identified by the HotSpot logo from T-Mobile. The Internet connection between Cologne and Dortmund is ensured on the move by several UMTS radio channels (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System). In the pilot project, however, alternative connections will also be tested, such as via satellite.

What is more, Deutsche Bahn and T-Mobile provide a special information service on the stretch that continues from Dortmund to Munich. In addition to current service and travel information from Deutsche Bahn, an extensive content offer from T-Online's information portal is also available. The content is updated throughout the journey during stops at each of the stations. Use of this service on the train is free of charge during the test phase. The pilot project will run until the end of March 2006 and aims to test the technical capability and acceptance of the offer. Should the pilot phase prove to be a success, expansion to other ICE routes and trains is planned. T-Mobile provides this service in cooperation with T-Systems as its technology partner. T-Systems has developed this innovative solution from the initial idea through to its market-ready implementation. The solution itself has aroused a great deal of interest internationally.

In addition to the service on ICEs, 20 ICE stations are now equipped with HotSpot from T-Mobile. Passengers can use W-LAN devices to go online at T-Mobile's usual HotSpot conditions on the platform or in the shopping area at the following stations: Augsburg main station, Berlin Ostbahnhof, Bochum main station, Dortmund main station, Duesseldorf main station, Dusseldorf airport, Duisburg main station, Essen main station, Frankfurt (Main) main station, Frankfurt (Main) airport, Hamburg main station, Hanover main station, Hanover Messe/Laatzen, Cologne main station, Cologne-Deutz, Mannheim main station, Munich main station, Nuremberg main station, Stuttgart main station, Wurzburg main station.

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