Risks and opportunities

This section provides important additional information and explains recent changes in the risks and opportunities as described in the combined management report of the 2019 Annual Report. Readers are also referred to the Disclaimer at the end of this report.

The coronavirus pandemic has developed into a global economic crisis. Higher demand for certain telecommunications services means the impact of the crisis is being felt less severely by the telecommunications industry than by other industries. There is still a great deal of uncertainty regarding the extent to which business activities and thus the results of operations and financial position of Deutsche Telekom could be affected overall as the coronavirus pandemic unfolds. Possible factors could include the introduction of new travel restrictions, the closure of Telekom Shops, disrupted supply chains, further declines in roaming and visitor volumes, falling terminal equipment sales, or a drop in the number of new contracts being taken out. In addition, corporate customer business may decline further, for example, due to delayed or changed customer decisions. The possibility of an increase in the number of consumers and business customers defaulting on their payments cannot be ruled out either. Deutsche Telekom has put in place cost-saving measures to mitigate potential effects on earnings. The coronavirus pandemic has a negative impact on the Group’s economic business risks. In the United States, Germany, and Europe operating segments, the risk significance was regraded from “low” to “medium” in the first three quarters of 2020.

The business combination of T‑Mobile US and Sprint was consummated on April 1, 2020. Implementing the business combination poses complex challenges for T‑Mobile US, which must be successfully overcome in order to realize the predicted synergies and to meet the conditions imposed by the authorities. The combination of the two companies to form the new T‑Mobile US affects all operational areas; for instance, the integration of the mobile networks and the IT and technology environments, customer management, sales, HR management, logistics, and the control environment. At the same time, it will be necessary to fulfill multiple conditions, including those agreed with the antitrust and regulatory authorities such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), the supervisory authorities in various U.S. states, and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). With the divestiture of Sprint’s prepaid business and the confirmation of an agreement to sell spectrum to DISH, on July 1, 2020, we fulfilled a major prerequisite of the U.S. authorities for approving the merger. Following the first half of 2020, we increased the risk significance in the risk category “Risks relating to the market and environment, United States” to “high” to reflect the challenges posed by the integration.

Assessment of the aggregate risk position

At the time of preparing this report, neither our risk management system nor our management could identify any material risks to the continued existence of Deutsche Telekom AG or a significant Group company as a going concern.