17 Other liabilities

Liabilities from early retirement arrangements for civil servants exist vis-à-vis the Civil Service Pension Fund and arise from payment obligations under agreements that had already been concluded. The obligations are payable in up to seven annual installments following retirement. The decline in liabilities from straight-line leases is due to the first-time application of IFRS 16, under which liabilities from straight-line leases, primarily for cell sites in the United States operating segment, are no longer required to be reported. As of January 1, the lease terms underlying these liabilities were adjusted to the lease terms determined in accordance with IFRS 16, increasing shareholders’ equity, and then the remaining prepaid expense was offset against the right-of-use asset. Due to the change in estimate implemented in the second half of 2019 in connection with the accounting treatment of contractual grants receivable from funding projects for the broadband build-out in Germany, EUR 1.2 billion was recognized for existing build-out obligations.

For further information on the first-time application of IFRS 16, please refer to the section “Initial application of standards, interpretations, and amendments.”

For further information on the change in estimate, please refer to the section “Changes in accounting policies, changes in estimates.”