Hungarians Talk a Lot on Mobile Phones

On average, Hungarians talk on their mobile phones 247 minutes a month, a figure that is expected to rise further in the future, according to the latest research by the National Media and Infocommunications Authority (NMHH).

The NMHH's communications directorate said in a statement that, according to data from the UN's telecommunications agency, the Netherlands will have the lowest monthly talk time of 135 minutes in 2021, while Sweden will have the highest, at almost six hours. The European average was 227 minutes, which is very close to the Hungarian average.

The average number of mobile phone calls per capita per month in Hungary is also in line with the figures for the other countries in the region: 229 minutes in Croatia, 266 minutes in Poland and 246 minutes in Austria in 2021, the release said.

The Authority also pointed out that usage is not affected by price differences between countries. Luxembourg has the lowest prices for mobile phone use in Europe, yet is one of the least talkative nations, with only the Netherlands having lower per-minute usage. Austria also has relatively cheap mobile phone usage, yet it is no more talkative than Hungarians, who face relatively high prices by European standards. Bulgarians have to pay the most, yet their usage is above average – 264 minutes per month.

The level of time Europeans spend on mobile phones appears stable, with an average of 220 minutes of talk time per person per month in 2010, compared with 226 minutes in 2019.

They noted that in Hungary, a total of 20 billion minutes of calls were made in 2015, rising to more than 28 billion minutes by 2021, meaning that the average annual increase in talk time was 5%.

The increase in mobile calls has been essentially at the expense of fixed line calls, as Hungarians are not talking more than they did 10 years ago, but simply the same amount of calls is split differently between the two types of phone. The NMHH forecasts that the current 247 minutes of mobile calls per month in Hungary could increase by 20-30 minutes in the medium term, the statement said.