Innovation priorities

Innovations can be produced everywhere. That is why it is important to ensure we pursue our innovation activities at an intragroup level and that they are aligned with our strategy. Our interconnected innovation areas provide a holistic, Group-wide framework for this. In the reporting year, we further built on our activities in the prior year to evolve our innovation priorities in close coordination with the operating segments.

• Home experience & TV: Our home experience product area bundles the topics of broadband connectivity, smart home, and TV and entertainment to better serve the increasing convergence of these applications and services in our customers’ homes. We want to offer our customers a communication and entertainment experience from a single source, and plan to gradually roll out products and services that offer exactly this in all markets of our European footprint in the coming years. Our goal is to offer our customers the best devices (routers, mesh Wi-Fi, TV set-top boxes) and set ourselves apart from our competitors with data-driven applications as well as differentiated and personalized services. To this end, we are developing for example our own router operating system for the digital future. This new router generation is based on a globally scalable reference system, which we are constantly fine-tuning together with other telecommunications providers – cloud-based and with standardized, intuitive access via app, PC, or television. Examples of customer applications include Wi-Fi management with on-premises troubleshooting, child protection functions, home security and automation, and more. In TV and entertainment, our focus is on consolidating the technical platforms, optimizing the customer experience, and improving the content offering through the further aggregation of renowned providers like Netflix and Disney+. Additionally, we continually work to improve our TV voice control and are set to roll this out to further markets outside of Germany.
• Digital channels: We are consistently optimizing our digital channels for our customers, with the goal of delivering a modern, superior digital experience based on state-of-the-art technology. One area of focus is our centrally developed sales and service app (MeinMagenta/OneApp), which is already established across all of our relevant markets and is used by more than two-thirds of our customers. It helps us monetize our product portfolio through up- and cross-selling, and bring down costs by reducing service cases through self-service and preventive maintenance. New services, such as through the Magenta Moments loyalty program, are continually being rolled out and optimized, to further drive up the already relatively high app penetration and customer satisfaction levels. We offer another possibility for interaction through our digital retail platform, OneShop, which is already in use in five countries. In customer interactions – whether digital or in person – we want to ensure that we can offer customers the best customer experience every time. To this end, we introduced, among other measures, new, targeted business processes with personalized offerings to enhance the customer experience. We have established Magenta View, a powerful support and troubleshooting channel that provides access to all internal technology and customer databases, and are set to gradually roll out this system in all of our European markets over the coming years.
• AI Competence Center: The AICC’s mission is to use (generative) AI to unlock improvements in efficiency, the customer experience, and the employee experience. The AICC does this on the one hand by offering practical and technical support for all Deutsche Telekom units to help them quickly deploy generative AI in particular. On the other, the AICC advises colleagues on using AI ethically and securely, and assists with selecting suitable partners. By integrating (generative) AI, we will ensure that our products and services remain competitive into the future. The focus of our activities in the reporting year continued to be on scaling up our AI-based Frag Magenta digital assistants for chat and telephone. The aim of these digital assistants is to further personalize all customer interactions across all points of contact. In November 2023, German computer magazine Computer Bild and market statistics company Statista once again named our Frag Magenta chatbot the best chatbot by a German telecommunications provider.
• Telco-as-a-platform: Under our strategic concept, Telco-as-a-platform, we are driving forward developments to disaggregate, cloudify, and automate our network production making increased use of data and AI. This approach aims to both improve the customer experience considerably and increase flexibility and scalability, while simultaneously lowering costs. We will achieve this with software solutions for automated error detection, analysis, and correction based on machine learning, among other solutions. Together with other network operators as part of the O-RAN Alliance, we are working towards defining a global standard for an open, intelligent, virtualized, and interoperable radio access network. The i14y Lab in Berlin offers a testing ground for the interoperability of O-RAN components. The innovative approach to network production unlocks new opportunities to directly monetize the network, for instance, via network application programming interfaces (APIs). An initiative in this area was set up in 2022: CAMARA – The Telco Global API Alliance. Its goal is to identify the needs of the developer community and, on this basis, to specify and implement open, globally standardized APIs to enable simple, uniform, codable access to network functionalities across all telecommunication providers. In addition to innovating and evolving the fixed and mobile networks, we also analyze which benefits we can generate for our customers from the appropriate integration of satellite-based access networks into our portfolio. Example applications include coverage for regions previously in dead spots, or the rapid provision of communication services following natural disasters or other emergencies.
• Standalone 5G: The 5G radio access network has been integrated with the new 5G core network to create 5G standalone. This core network is the source of crucial innovations and benefits, because it removes the need for terminal devices to connect to the 4G and 5G networks in parallel. The 5G core network is based on a cloud platform with virtualized core network functions, such as, e.g., network slices, which are discrete logical networks with individual, application-specific characteristics such as bandwidth, latency, or security, that allow applications always to be provided with the appropriate (virtual) network. Network slices could therefore be used, for example, for applications where bandwidth and latency are critical, such as augmented/virtual reality; for communication among authorities where security is critical; or for secure, high-availability applications for business customers.
• Sustainable Telco: This innovation area is devoted to making the telecommunications industry more sustainable. With a view to safeguarding long-term access to affordable green energy, our main focus is on energy efficiency and energy resilience. This includes location-based usage of regenerative energy with dynamic energy storage management for load balancing, as well as AI-powered, load-dependent energy-saving mechanisms. For example, rapid, temporary mobile network coverage following natural disasters or for large-scale events is already being successfully delivered by mobile cell towers with hydrogen-based fuel cell technology.