eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
Deutsche Telekom is turning to the world to fuel the companys growth.
“Deutsche Telekom is committed to driving internationalization in order to better serve our customers and bring long-term value to our shareholders,” says Jeffrey A. Hedberg, head of DTs international division.
In the past 18 months, DT deals have totaled $59.1 billion. The pending purchase of U.S. mobile carrier VoiceStream Wireless, with its Powertel acquisition, would give DT access to licenses covering 97 percent of the American population, and make it the only wireless provider with operations on both sides of the Atlantic.
Hedberg says mobile data will get a “strong push”; DT plans to transfer its know-how in global system for mobile communication and General Packet Radio Service to VoiceStream, and lay the groundwork for the third-generation technology, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System. By the end of the decade, DT expects data, both mobile and Internet, to account for 60 percent of the average revenue per unit of $51 per month.
The company also has moved into new mobile markets in Great Britain and on the continent. Its Internet business — Europes largest with more than 1.4 million customers — is now available in France, Portugal and Spain. DSL, its most important, fixed-line initiative, has 850,000 customers.
Although 2000 earnings grew to $5.3 billion, from $1.2 billion, rumors persist that DT Chairman Ron Sommer could be forced out because of a soft stock price and earnings gyrations.