Dear Readers,
2025 was a strong year for Deutsche Telekom. We exceeded our forecasts and set new records. More than 300 million customers worldwide rely on us. This trust does not come from promises. It comes from reliability.
This reliability is becoming increasingly rare. Rules are becoming less stable, competition is getting tougher, the tone is getting rougher. Technologies are shifting markets in ever shorter cycles. In such an environment, it becomes clear what companies stand for.
Of course, success is measured by the results. But not only. It is also crucial how we achieve those results – what priorities we set and what we take responsibility for. For 30 years, Deutsche Telekom has been committed to operating sustainably. For us, sustainability is not a niche topic; it is part of our business model. It is a lever for identifying opportunities and risks at an early stage and leveraging them economically for the benefit of the environment and society.
We are improving our business across all areas through the consistent use of AI. In 2025, we established a new AI factory in Munich within just 6 months, with the aim of strengthening European sovereignty. It is a central component of a European AI infrastructure, featuring sovereign operations, sovereign data and full alignment with European standards. From the outset we have factored in efficiency and energy consumption.
Neither AI nor sustainability are self-running processes. Their value emerges where they are integrated and where they help us make better decisions. One example is the European Union’s Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem. It provides free access to Earth observation data that makes environmental and climate changes visible. Together with European partners, we contribute our technological expertise to make this data available – as a basis for decision-making for policymakers, scientists, society, and business.
Because only reliable data makes the protection of our climate manageable. For our own company, we reached an important milestone in 2025: group-wide we became greenhouse gas neutral in our own operations (Scope 1 and 2) – as the first multinational telecommunications group and the first DAX 40 company. Since 2017, we have reduced our emissions by more than 94 percent and neutralized remaining emissions through high-quality projects that capture CO2e from the atmosphere.
We remain committed to our climate strategy and implement it consistently. And yes, our stock market value has developed positively during this time, as has our brand value. Deutsche Telekom is the strongest corporate brand in Germany and Europe and remains the world’s leading telco brand. The belief that climate protection and economic success are mutually exclusive is, in my view, a false debate. Implemented intelligently, they reinforce each other and create trust.
Trust alone is not enough in a world of new technologies, especially at a time when new AI applications are emerging every day. People cannot simply rely on information generated by AI models. They must learn to distinguish facts from fake. Digital inclusion and broad media literacy are therefore crucial to enabling individuals to make informed decisions and societies remain competitive. In 2025 alone, Deutsche Telekom invested around 977 million euros in digital inclusion worldwide, reaching 40 million people.
Reliability is most evident when it really counts. For example, in case of natural disasters, which unfortunately also affected us in 2025, when infrastructure is critical and person-to-person communication matters. For example, we were once again able to help during wildfires and floods in the United States or earthquakes in Greece. This is thanks to the skills and strong commitment of our employees worldwide, who ensure that our networks continue to run, even in exceptional situations.
Also in the future, we will continue to do everything we can to justify the trust placed in Deutsche Telekom. Because progress does not come from waiting. It comes from the courage to make clear decisions – and the reliability to follow through on them.
Yours
Tim Höttges