With a floor space of 276 square meters, Astoria is the largest shop in Telenor’s network. When the shop was refurbished in 2020, Telenor decided to adopt a novel approach and transform part of the shop to a co-working hub available to anyone including non-Telenor customers. The mobile operator wants to provide a space to online workers including entrepreneurs, freelancers, students and startuppers who want to make the best use of their time between two appointments in downtown Budapest or wish to use Desk in the city as the site of an appointment, interview or focused creative effort. It offers a solution also for those who seek a site for a customer meeting at an easy-to-access, convenient location because they just visit Budapest from the countryside or have an office in the far-flung outskirts of Budapest. In addition to workstations, the Desk in the city community space also includes closed meeting rooms for four, six or even 17 people.
The co-working space including its meeting rooms of different sizes can accommodate up to 53 people. During the time booked, Telenor provides all facilities for comfortable work including air conditioning, ergonomic office furniture, free Hipernet access, a projector screen in meeting rooms and a coffee vending machine in the community area. It also ensures that the entire shop is regularly disinfected and provides tools for sanitizing workstations individually. The workstations and meeting rooms of Desk in the city can be booked for an hour using this platform.
The shop was redesigned to create a friendly and cosy atmosphere for customers and co-working hub users alike. This is facilitated by lots of light, more than 200 plants, a green wall of 14 square meters and wooden surfaces.
In the video series #Kibontó, Telenor’s employees provide easy-to-understand and entertaining information about the world of mobile technology including mobile phones, apps and gadgets. The latest episode of #Kibontó is about the co-working hub.