Highlights in the first quarter of 2021

Business and other transactions

Reassignments between the operating segments. Effective January 1, 2021, Deutsche Telekom reassigned the responsibility for business and profit and loss for Deutsche Telekom IoT GmbH from the Systems Solutions operating segment to the Germany operating segment. Also as of January 1, 2021, Deutsche Telekom reassigned its Austrian cell tower business from the Europe operating segment to the Group Development operating segment.

For further information on the two reassignments, please refer to the section “Group organization, strategy, and management” in the interim Group management report and the section “Segment reporting” in the interim consolidated financial statements.

Combination of the cell tower business in the Netherlands and creation of an infrastructure fund. On January 21, 2021, Deutsche Telekom, Cellnex Telecom, and the newly established, independently managed investment company Digital Infrastructure Vehicle (DIV) signed an agreement to merge Deutsche Telekom’s and Cellnex’s respective Dutch subsidiaries for mobile infrastructure. Under the deal, the Dutch cell tower company T‑Mobile Infra will be sold to DIV and subsequently merged into Cellnex Netherlands. The transaction is expected to be closed in the first half of 2021, following approval by the responsible antitrust authority.

T‑Mobile US Analyst Day

Marking almost one year since the merger with Sprint, on March 11, 2021 T‑Mobile US updated analysts on the status of the business integration and shared its medium-term financial targets. For example, the company is realizing the synergies from the business combination with Sprint ahead of the planned time frame announced with the transaction in April 2018. Among other factors, T‑Mobile US now expects the net present value of cost and capital expenditure synergies to increase to over USD 70 billion in total – around 60 % higher than the original guidance of USD 43 billion. Our U.S. subsidiary also provided an update on the 5G network build-out following the most recent national spectrum auction, where it invested in C-band frequencies to add to its Ultra Capacity 5G and position itself to maintain its leadership in the 5G era. T‑Mobile US additionally announced its plans to expand its footprint to include smaller and rural target markets, the enterprise customer segment and home broadband.

Investments in networks

Network build-out in Germany. In the first quarter of 2021, we upgraded around 1,600 additional sites for 5G. We now offer 5G in over 5,000 towns, cities, and municipalities covering some 66 million people Germany-wide. Furthermore, we built a total of 556 new LTE sites across Germany in the first quarter of 2021. Our LTE network now covers 98.8 % of German households.

As of the end of the first quarter 2021, our fiber-optic network (FTTH, FTTB) directly passed some 2.3 million households in Germany.

Network build-out in the United States. T‑Mobile US acquired 142 spectrum licenses at the C-band auction in February 2021 for a total of USD 9.3 billion. Our U.S. subsidiary is strengthening its 5G network with the additional 40 MHz spectrum. T‑Mobile US’ Ultra Capacity 5G network in the 2.5 GHz and millimeter-wave (mmWave) bands covered 140 million people across the United States as of the end of the first quarter of 2021. In parallel, the company is forging ahead with the build-out of 5G via the 600 MHz band, which is already available to some 295 million people nationwide.

Network build-out in Europe. Our national companies in Europe, too, worked systematically to build out their networks throughout the first quarter of 2021. Hrvatski Telekom, for example, had made 5G available in 34 cities across Croatia by March 2021, thus enabling some 1.5 million people to already benefit from 5G. And Magyar Telekom in Hungary successfully acquired spectrum in the 900 and 1,800 MHz bands in January 2021. At the end of the first quarter of 2021, we also covered 97.7 % of the population in our European countries with LTE, reaching a total of around 108 million people.

Thus a total of around 4.3 million households in our four largest national companies had the option of a direct connection to our fiber-optic network (FTTH, FTTB, ED3) as of the end of the first quarter 2021.

Cooperations and partnerships

Extension of fiber-optic partnership with NetCologne. Deutsche Telekom and NetCologne have extended their long-running partnership from 2013 with an agreement to continue working together for a further ten years. For the first time, the partners have now also agreed to grant reciprocal network access to gigabit-capable fiber-optic infrastructure. The goal is to maximize network utilization and secure additional investments in the future fiber-optic build-out.

Extension of the fixed-network partnership with 1&1. Deutsche Telekom and 1&1 Versatel will continue to work closely together in the fixed network with a new ten-year agreement signed on the use of direct fiber-optic lines (FTTH) and VDSL. This fixed-network partnership safeguards the utilization of our networks and drives forward the fiber-optic build-out in Germany. In return, 1&1 can offer its customers a future-oriented product portfolio on our fast network.

Network infrastructure sharing with Telefónica. Before the end of the year, Deutsche Telekom and Telefónica aim to close several hundred “gray spots” in 4G network coverage for their customers. The partners will share active network technology at the sites. Unlike previous joint projects, such as radio mast site-sharing or the operator agreement to close “white spots,” separate wireless technology or antennas do not have to be additionally installed with this approach. Both companies have signed a corresponding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

For more details, please refer to our media information.

5G partnership with Deutsche Messe. Deutsche Messe’s exhibition grounds in Hanover will get their own 5G campus network before the end of the year to create a 5G exhibition center which Deutsche Messe, in close partnership with Deutsche Telekom, will gradually transform into a highly innovative multi-functional campus. We are ensuring comprehensive, high-performance 5G coverage over a total area of more than 1.4 million square meters – making it our largest 5G campus in Germany to date.

For more details, please refer to our media information.

5G partnership in the United States. In January 2021, T‑Mobile US announced five-year, multi-billion-dollar agreements with both Ericsson and Nokia to continue advancing and expanding the nation’s largest 5G network. Part of the network investment following last year’s merger with Sprint, these deals enable T‑Mobile US to add even more 5G coverage, capacity, speed, and advanced technical capabilities across all of its spectrum bands.

Joint campus network initiative with Ericsson. T‑Systems and Ericsson have combined their expertise to offer their respective customers integrated campus network solutions. The partnership is based on Ericsson’s campus network infrastructure and our edge computing capabilities. Both companies aim to deliver an integrated solution to their own partners worldwide that gives their respective customers a high-quality, seamless service.

For more details, please refer to our media information.

Openness and diversity in the radio access network. Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica, and Vodafone Group have signed a joint letter of intent expressing their individual commitment to the implementation and deployment of Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) solutions. Open RAN takes advantage of new open virtualized architectures, software, and hardware to build more agile and flexible mobile networks in the 5G era. The four operators will work together with existing and new ecosystem partners, industry bodies, and European policy makers to ensure Open RAN quickly reaches competitive parity with traditional RAN solutions.

For more details, please refer to our media information.

Focus on the cloud. With its Cloud First strategy, T‑Systems will increasingly focus on the strategically important cloud computing business in the future and to this end has intensified its partnerships with Amazon Web Services AWS and Microsoft. In addition, the Deutsche Telekom subsidiary is increasingly training cloud experts and expanding the Open Telekom Cloud. Total investments in the expansion of cloud services are in the triple-digit euro millions.

For more details, please refer to our media information.

Products, rate plans, and services

Mixed reality innovation. In mid-March 2021, we were the first provider in Europe to officially launch pre-sales of the mixed reality glasses Nreal Light. This step brings a brand-new and innovative 5G-based interactive communication and entertainment device to the general public. Users of the glasses are able to experience mixed reality and augmented reality applications integrated into the real-world environment.

T‑Mobile US business customer campaign. In March 2021, T‑Mobile US launched WFX Solutions – a new suite of services for business maximizing the benefits of its 5G network. The products T‑Mobile Enterprise Unlimited, T‑Mobile Home Office Internet, and T‑Mobile Collaborate help businesses and employees with mobile and home working.

Magenta Security: the security shield for connected machines. Cyberattacks on businesses are on the rise. Our Security Operations Center registers several million attacks per day on companies, which used to target networks and IT, in particular. Hackers today are increasingly exploiting the vulnerabilities of connected machines. Magenta Industrial Security is a new service from Deutsche Telekom that erects a protective shield around industry control systems to ward off such attacks.

For more details, please refer to our media information.

In-flight WiFi connectivity. The European Aviation Network (EAN) is now available to passengers traveling in more than 250 aircraft operated by British Airways, Iberia, and Vueling across Europe. Deutsche Telekom and Inmarsat developed EAN in collaboration with leading European companies. The solution offers airline passengers extremely high speeds of up to 100 Mbit/s and low latency comparable to terrestrial wireless communications.

For more details, please refer to our media information.

Awards

The illustration below shows the main awards received in the first quarter of 2021.

For more information on the aforementioned highlights in the first quarter of 2021, please refer to our media information.