Finance strategy We announced our finance strategy for the years 2018 through 2021 at the Capital Markets Day in late May 2018. Our forecast for growth through to 2021 remains at the same high level we anticipated at our Capital Markets Day in 2015 for the period 2014 through 2018. Part of our finance strategy was to achieve our target financial ratios – relative debt (ratio of net debt to adjusted EBITDA) and equity ratio – along with a liquidity reserve that covers our maturities of the coming 24 months at least. With these clear statements we intend to maintain our rating in a corridor from A- to BBB and safeguard undisputed access to the capital market. There is a sustainable dividend policy for shareholders, which is subject to approval by the relevant bodies and the fulfillment of other legal requirements. For the 2019 financial year, in keeping with our dividend policy as updated in November 2019, we plan to propose a dividend of EUR 0.60 per dividend-bearing share, which will also serve as a baseline for the dividend going forward. Starting from the 2020 financial year, the dividend is to reflect relative growth in earnings per share with a lower limit fixed at EUR 0.60 per dividend-bearing share. This dividend policy applies irrespective of the successful closing of the business combination of T‑Mobile US and Sprint. We thus offer our shareholders both an attractive return and planning reliability. We will also take share buy-backs into consideration, both of Deutsche Telekom AG shares and shares in T‑Mobile US. However, no shares are expected to be bought back in the first three years after the successful closing of the business combination of T‑Mobile US and Sprint. Total capital expenditure is also to remain high in the next few years. The scope for investment is to be used to further roll out our broadband infrastructure and to accelerate the transformation of the Company to an IP-based production model. In mobile communications, the infrastructure build-out will focus on the LTE and 5G standards and, in the fixed network, on optical fiber and vectoring. The finance strategy supports the transformation of our Group into the Leading European Telco. In order to generate a sustainable increase in value, we intend to earn at least our cost of capital. We plan to meet this target by optimizing the utilization of our non-current assets on the one hand, and pursuing strict cost discipline and sustainable profitable revenue growth on the other. Our finance strategy through 2021 a Subject to approval by the relevant bodies and the fulfillment of other legal requirements. b Adjusted earnings per share 2019 as starting point. c Not relevant for the first three years after the successful closing of the business combination of T‑Mobile US and Sprint. d Deviation from the target range for a short period after the successful closing of the business combination of T‑Mobile US and Sprint. schließen IP - Internet Protocol Non-proprietary transport protocol in Layer 3 of the OSI reference model for inter-network communications. schließen LTE - Long-Term Evolution New generation of 4G mobile communications technology using, for example, wireless spectrum on the 800 MHz band freed up by the digitization of television. Powerful TV frequencies enable large areas to be covered with far fewer radio masts. LTE supports speeds of over 100 Mbit/s downstream and 50 Mbit/s upstream, and facilitates new services for cell phones, smartphones, and tablets. schließen 5G New communications standard, which offers data rates in the gigabit range, converges fixed-network and mobile communications, and supports the Internet of Things – rollout starting 2020. schließen Optical fiber Channel for optical data transmission. schließen Vectoring Vectoring is a noise-canceling technology that removes the electro-magnetic interference between lines, enabling higher bit rates. However, in order to cancel noise, the operator must have control over all lines. This means that other operators cannot install their own technology at the cable distribution boxes.
