40 Lessor relationships

Finance leases. Deutsche Telekom is a lessor in connection with finance leases. Essentially, these relate to the leasing of routers and other hardware, which Deutsche Telekom provides to its customers for data and telephone network solutions.

The following table shows how the amount of the net investment in a finance lease is determined:

The following table presents the gross investment amounts and the present value of payable lease payments:

Operating leases. Deutsche Telekom is a lessor in connection with operating leases. The underlying leases mainly relate to mobile terminal equipment in the United States operating segment, cell sites, building and co-location space, and unbundled local loop lines. By contrast, contracts on the provision of the latest generation of modems/routers to consumers in the fixed-network mass-market do not satisfy the definition of a lease, where modem and router features are incorporated in one device.

Where terminal equipment is leased in the United States operating segment, customers are entitled to receive a new device once per month during the term of the lease. On receipt of the new device or at the end of the contract, the customer either returns or purchases the equipment. The purchase price at the end of the lease is set at the commencement of the lease and is equal to the estimated residual value of the equipment. The purchase price is based on the type of equipment and the advance payment. The contracts do not contain any residual value guarantees or variable lease payments, nor do they contain any restrictions or covenants. Terminal equipment returned by customers is prepared for sale in the secondary market or for use as a replacement for defective devices. This reduces the residual value risk of the returned equipment.

The leasing of local loop lines and space to wholesale fixed-network customers (e.g., co-location space) is also classified as a lease. The regulator requires Deutsche Telekom to make co-location space and unbundled local loop lines available to competitors. In contrast to unregulated products, the residual value risk for these assets is rather low because competitors are economically dependent on the use of these assets. In the unlikely event that co-location space and unbundled local loop lines are not leased, Deutsche Telekom will try to find new tenants for the vacant space or unleased lines. In the case of its own cell sites in the Europe operating segment, Deutsche Telekom will also strive to continue leasing – where possible – all of the free space that it does not itself occupy. The aim here is to reduce the vacancy rate of unused space as far as possible by re-letting and to spread the cost.

Operating leases exist for the following items of property, plant and equipment:

The maturity analysis of the lease payments arising from operating leases is as follows:

The reduction in lease payments of EUR 2.0 billion is mainly the result of the sale of a 51 % stake in the cell tower business companies in Germany and Austria (GD tower companies) in the Group Development operating segment. Of the EUR 2.5 billion of lease payments, as of December 31, 2022, EUR 1.9 billion related to DFMG Deutsche Funkturm GmbH, which was part of the GD tower companies held for sale. This entity leased cell sites to third parties.

For further information on the aforementioned business transaction, please refer to the section “Changes in the composition of the Group and other transactions” under “Summary of accounting policies.”