Technology and innovation

At Deutsche Telekom, innovation means creating the best possible customer experience and achieving our goal of technology leadership on the basis of our networks. In the Board of Management department for Technology and Innovation, we focus on four strategic areas: global economies of scale, technological sovereignty, autonomous networks, and data-driven artificial intelligence (AI). We believe our core competency consists in the development of human-centered technology and product platforms, which we offer on a global scale, as well as the integration of individual components such as hardware and software in the mobile communications and fixed networks. To this end, we use resilient and future-proof technology to deliver the best-possible customer experience at a reasonable price. We achieve this in conjunction with our own network and IT infrastructure, supported by partners.

Innovations in technology and products are aligned with the goal of safeguarding network and technology leadership alongside enhanced customer satisfaction in the Germany, Europe, and United States operating segments. We are thereby both enabling our current business and at the same time shaping the future.

We set ourselves apart from the competition through innovations and generate growth in three ways:

• In-house developments: T-Labs is the research and development unit of Deutsche Telekom, focusing on translating new technology trends into tangible outcomes through its research into disruptive technologies for future telecommunications infrastructure. Our current research activities focus on the networks of the future, quantum communication, spatial computing, decentralized systems, and security. T-Labs cooperates with multiple universities around the world.
• Partnerships and cooperations: We draw on the expertise and abilities of our partners in order to successfully implement the digital transformation. We rely on innovative energy from around the world, and cooperate with companies from Germany, the United States, Israel, Korea, India, and other innovation hotspots across the globe.
• Start-up funding, venture and growth capital: hubraum, our tech incubator, puts start-ups in touch with the relevant business units and R&D initiatives within the Group. It offers exclusive access to networks (via network APIs), product platforms, or test data to help the start-ups develop and test their products and services in a faster and better way. The global T Challenge, a joint initiative with T‑Mobile US, supports start-ups with the development of innovative solutions geared to the digital transformation and competitiveness of Deutsche Telekom. Venture and growth capital is provided both directly, by our strategic investment fund T.Capital, as well as via our investments in the investment management group Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners. We participate in the Federal Government’s WIN Initiative and are committed to working together to strengthen Germany and Europe’s presence as a technology hub.

Coordinating this task are our Technology and Innovation and USA and Group Development Board of Management departments, which work in close collaboration with our operating segments. We pursue our innovation activities at an intragroup level and in alignment with our strategy. Our interconnected innovation areas provide a Group-wide framework for this:

• Home experience & TV: Broadband, smart home, entertainment, and TV (MagentaTV)
• Digital channels: Apps and other channels for customer loyalty and marketing, service, and troubleshooting (OneApp, Frag Magenta chatbot, etc.)
• AI Competence Center: Use and development of (generative) AI to improve the customer experience and internal processes
• Telco-as-a-platform: Automation, disaggregation, and cloudification of network production and usage
• 5G Standalone: Creation of a 5G core network in the cloud with virtualized core network functions such as network slicing and discrete logical network layers with individual, application-specific characteristics such as bandwidth, latency, and security functions
• Sustainable Telco: improving energy efficiency and energy resilience

Patent portfolio

Patents are gaining more and more significance in the telecommunications industry. Our patent strategy has to keep pace with the constant evolution of market players and fields of activity. On the one hand, our Group’s scope for action must be maintained. On the other, we want to protect the results of our own research and development, and to use these in cooperation and partnership with other companies. National and international patent rights are vital for these types of activity. We are therefore strongly dedicated to developing, granting, and maintaining our own patents. In the reporting year, Deutsche Telekom held a total of 8,109 patent rights. We are firmly committed to expanding our patent portfolio, taking relevant current and future technologies into account. This will secure the value of our innovations in a dynamic world and bolster the Group’s competitiveness. We predominantly license our patents through our membership of patent pools.

Investments in research and development

Research and development (R&D) expenditure includes pre-production research and development, such as the search for alternative products, processes, systems, and services. By contrast, we do not class as R&D expenditure the costs of developing system and user software which is designed to improve productivity and make our business processes more effective. R&D expenditure in the Deutsche Telekom Group amounted to EUR 21 million in 2024 (2023: EUR 25 million). As the parent company, Deutsche Telekom AG bears part of the Group’s research and development expenditure. The expenditure was up slightly against the prior year at EUR 12 million. In 2024, our Group’s investments in internally generated intangible assets to be capitalized were down year-on-year at EUR 592 million compared with EUR 708 million for the previous year. These investments predominantly relate to internally developed software, mainly in our Group Headquarters & Group Services segment. In 2024, Deutsche Telekom AG’s investments in internally generated intangible assets to be capitalized were EUR 5 million compared with EUR 2 million for the previous year.