Digital inclusion: overcoming the divide

The digital world is changing at an ever faster pace – currently driven primarily by rapid progress in the development of artificial intelligence (AI). At the same time, the personal, economic and social well-being of all people depends heavily on digital inclusion. That is why we are committed to breaking down barriers. With inclusive products, affordable services and measures for the competent use of digital media, we want to enable access to the digital society for everyone.

We also deal with the topic of digital inclusion in detail in the audited Sustainability Statement in the Annual Report 2024. Closely linked to “Digital inclusion” is also our commitment to democratic rules of the game on the internet, which we describe here in the CR report at Digital values depict.

Milestones achieved, ongoing projects and goals

More than 80 million – that is how many people are expected to benefit from our commitment to promoting the digital society across the Group between 2024 and 2027: As beneficiaries, they learn new skills, adapt their attitudes or behavior, or notice a change in their everyday lives. Our beneficiaries in the area of digital society include people who use our media literacy platforms, participants in workshops and users of free telephone counselling services and discounted rates (including household members). We measure our progress with the ESG KPI “Beneficiaries – Digital Society”. In the 2024 reporting year, we reached around 34 million people with our measures.

Our approach to digital inclusion

To ensure that all people can participate equally in the networked society, we promote three dimensions in particular with our activities:

Access

In order to enable technical access, we are constantly expanding our network. We also cooperate with partners – especially in remote areas. In addition, we are driving forward the development of technology and products for different target groups and attach great importance to a non-discriminatory design.

Affordability

Affordability where it counts: We are committed to this with products and services, e.g., special tariffs for schools, affordable devices and reduced basic fees for various target groups.

Ability/Media Literacy

We support people in moving around the internet safely, competently and confidently. To this end, we offer free, easy-to-understand and entertaining materials and formats on the various aspects of media literacy.

Access: access through network expansion

Our investments in network expansion are crucial for ensuring that large parts of society have access to fast internet. Our high power quality has been certified to us in independent tests for many years. For more information about our awards, please visit CR Strategy in this CR report.

In the fixed network, we are focusing on fiber-optic expansion to provide our customers with a reliable connection at gigabit speed. In the FTTH (Fiber to the Home) expansion, we install fiber optic lines directly at your home. The aim is to close network gaps in rural areas and to supply conurbations in line with the high bandwidth demand.

In addition to the pure fiber-optic connection, we also offer other solutions: For example, our hybrid router combines transmission bandwidths from fixed and mobile networks, thus enabling higher transmission speeds, especially in rural areas.

You can find out more about network expansion in our audited

Annual Report 2024

Access: “Design for All”

We want to design our products and services in such a way that they are easy to use for everyone. In order to enable barrier-free and non-discriminatory access, we take care to take into account a wide range of human diversity during product development – in addition to different physical and mental abilities, this includes other dimensions of diversity such as age, gender and ethnic origin. The framework for this is provided by our “Design for All” guideline: We take many different aspects into account as early as the design stage in order to efficiently translate our principles into products and solutions. In this way, we create an inclusive environment that includes more people and does not exclude others. In doing so, we go beyond the legal requirements for accessibility. In our “Design for All” activities, we also incorporate the perspectives of a “Sounding Board” – this is a committee of internal experts and external representatives of organizations that focus on the diversity dimensions relevant to the guideline in their work.

In addition, we offer professional consulting services for companies, for example since 2009 through our Competence Center for Accessibility and Software Ergonomics. It is now the largest of its kind in Germany. We support companies in German-speaking countries with a “Design for All” audit in optimizing their products for as diverse target groups as possible.

Our recent progress

• In the reporting year, we organized a hackathon for human-centered technology. At Hack4Humans 2024, 21 Deutsche Telekom teams in six countries developed barrier-free digital solutions to support people with disabilities or limitations. The winning team from Slovakia designed an object and path recognition system using a mobile phone camera for people with visual impairments.
• Also in 2024, we introduced web-based “Design for All” training for our employees (Group-wide excluding T‑Mobile US).

Accessible products and services: application examples

To ensure that seniors can easily participate in the digital society, we offer special technology and products for them: Large button settings, emergency call buttons and clear displays make it easier for them to use digital technologies.

Deaf and hard of hearing people can take advantage of special counselling services on our products and services. In Germany, for example, we offer video-based live chats in sign language and text chats in plain language for deaf and hard of hearing customers. We also offer discounted mobile and landline offers that are tailored to the needs of deaf people. Through the mandatory social security contribution to the Federal Network Agency, we co-finance a round-the-clock emergency call with sign language interpreters for hearing-impaired people in Germany.

We offer some parts of our website in easy-read language and want to give as many people as possible access to easy-to-understand information.

Affordability: digital participation through affordability

Affordability is also an important factor in enabling digital inclusion. For this reason, we offer various products and special rates.

Affordable devices with 5G network

To ensure that as broad a proportion of the population as possible can benefit from our expansion of 5G networks, we currently offer the 5G smartphones T Phone 2 and T Phone 2 Pro in ten European countries. Similar products from the REVVL series are available in the USA. The T Tablet comes from the same series and is on the market in nine countries in Europe and the USA. With these comparatively affordable products, we want to give more people access to the digital world.

You can find out more about network expansion in our audited

Annual Report 2024

Plans for different target groups

We offer social and subsidized tariffs throughout the Group. In this way, we enable eligible users to make free or discounted calls or surf the web. The offer differs from country to country and is handled differently in each case.

Our special rates are aimed in particular at:

• low-income individuals, single parents and families
• People with disabilities
• Refugees (e.g., those affected by the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine) in Germany and the USA
• People from systemically important occupational or social groups (e.g., employees of the German Red Cross and the fire brigade in Germany)
• Pupils, students, teachers, school authorities and districts
• Seniors
• Start-ups (e.g., within the framework of special programs)

Focus on education

With special tariff offers, we promote the teaching of digital skills in educational institutions.

As part of the “Telekom@School” initiative, we offer broadband connections for educational purposes to all general and vocational schools in Germany. Depending on the bandwidth, schools receive the connections free of charge or significantly at a reduced price. In the reporting year, we supported the “Telekom@School” initiative with services worth 11.6 million euros. Around 6.7 million people benefited from this.

Since 2020, we have also been offering school authorities in Germany an education flat rate, which allows students to use unlimited data volume for educational content. Funding for the education tariff amounted to around 8 million euros in the reporting year. About 161,000 people benefited from this.

In 2024, we published our second Education Report (only available in German), illustrating our activities to promote digital education.

United States segment: affordable internet in education

With the “Project 10Million” program, which was launched in 2020, T‑Mobile US has committed to offering free and discounted internet connections and mobile hotspots to up to 10 million primary and secondary education students in the United States.

In 2024, T‑Mobile US further enhanced its program by:

• Doubling the data allowance to 200 GB per year for five years for all qualifying students and for current student households for the remainder of the five-year term.
• Allowing families who hit their data limit to purchase a discounted 10 GB data pass for just USD 10.
• Offering affordable laptops and tablets for both individuals and school districts to purchase.

Through “Project 10Million”, school districts are also eligible for free and heavily subsidized student data plans. Since 2024, the districts with the greatest need are also able to receive more data for free, up to 200 GB per year.

To reach even more students, T‑Mobile US partnered nationally with Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA), focusing on the ten states with the highest number of disconnected students. By tapping into BGCA’s network, T‑Mobile US is better able to reach under connected and lower-income communities.

Since the start of the project, T‑Mobile US has done the following through “Project 10Million”

• connected over 6.3 million students to the internet and
• provided nearly USD 7.4 billion worth of products and services (as of the end of 2024).

Ability: promoting media literacy

Media literacy means being able to use digital media safely and competently. This is not only about learning basic skills for safe use – but also about knowing how to protect your privacy or deal with hate and disinformation. An environmentally friendly approach to technology is also part of this: We want to show people how they can use digital solutions cleverly to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions or save resources.

Teachtoday International

The “Teachtoday International” provides an overview of Deutsche Telekom’s Group-wide media literacy initiatives. The platform is available in English.

The most important target groups of our media literacy offers

• Children and young people: Young people today grow up in an environment that is strongly influenced by digital media. It is essential that children and young people learn to move confidently and at the same time safely on the internet. We want to support them in this and promote their media literacy with numerous measures and initiatives: in Germany, for example, with our initiative “Teachtoday.de” and the interactive children’s magazine “SCROLLER”, which are aimed at young people and their adult caregivers. Both formats received awards again in the reporting year. For more information, see CR Strategy here in the CR report. Our employees are also involved in corporate communities to promote more media literacy among children and young people. You can find more information under Voluntary and financial commitment in this CR report.

Europe segment: digital inclusion through media literacy (Magyar Telekom)

In our Hungarian subsidiary Magyar Telekom, we launched the digital platform “Hello Parent” in 2023. It is aimed at families and supports parents in bringing their children closer to the digital world in an age-appropriate way. As part of “Hello Parent”, Magyar Telekom provided almost EUR 500,000 in the reporting year to enable measures to promote the digital society. A total of 1.5 million people benefited from this.

• Senior citizens: We cooperate with partner organizations such as the Federal Association of Senior Citizens’ Organizations (BAGSO) to strengthen the media literacy of senior citizens: for example, we offer seminars and workshops on the safe and independent use of digital devices. Thanks to digital applications, seniors can also maintain social contacts more easily and prevent loneliness in old age.

Excursus: digital inclusion in the healthcare sector

Good medical care is by no means a matter of course. A shortage of skilled workers, complex bureaucratic processes and a lack of communication often stand in its way. How can these hurdles be overcome and better availability, higher quality and greater efficiency be ensured? Solutions from T‑Systems for the healthcare sector are designed to make this possible.

• Prostate.Carcinoma.ai: The radiology solution based on artificial intelligence (AI) from T‑Systems and the start-up Fuse-AI can detect prostate tumors faster and more accurately using MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) compared to conventional methods. Another advantage is that paper and total resource consumption in medical practices and hospitals can be reduced through digitization and automation.
• Smart Health Chat: The AI-powered chatbot relieves the burden on medical staff, nurses, administrative staff and patients alike. For example, when admitted to the hospital, the program can access patient data that is already available. It also supports employees with anamnesis and administration and automates routine tasks – which can help to cope with the shortage of skilled workers. The Smart Health Chat is operated in the Open Telekom Cloud.
• Digital identities: We have developed a solution for secure online identification for the health insurance companies Barmer and AOK. Patients can access digital health services more easily and need fewer physical documents. At the health insurance companies, the processed data can be handled securely and administrative processes can be optimized.

Measuring success in 2024: ESG KPIs “Community Contribution – Digital Society” and “Beneficiaries – Digital Society”

EUR 1,102 million of our financial, human and material commitment have contributed to the promotion of the digital society.

34 million people have benefited directly or through multipliers such as parents or educators from our measures to promote the digital society.

You can find more information on our performance measurement under Social engagement in this CR report.

Looking ahead

34 million people benefited from our commitment to promoting the digital society in 2024. This brings us a big step closer to our goal of reaching more than 80 million people between 2024 and 2027. The rapid technological development around the topic of artificial intelligence clearly shows us that our commitment to more digital participation is and will remain important in the coming years.