Telekom's fiber optic expansion is making progress
Deutsche Telekom is making rapid progress with the expansion of fiber optic Internet. "Fiber to the Home" (FTTH) was available to 6.9 million households at the end of September, the Group announced in Bonn on Thursday. That was 2.4 million more than a year earlier.
By the end of 2024, fiber optics should be within reach of more than 10 million households. "We want to continue to move forward in terms of our strike rate," said CFO Christian Illek. Competitors are also expanding, but Deutsche Telekom is far ahead. Fiber optics is considered the best technology to meet the increasing data requirements of the Internet age.
However, fiber optic contracts are generally more expensive than connections via telephone lines (VDSL) or television cable. As a result, many consumers are still reluctant - not everyone will take advantage of the opportunity when fiber optics is finally available in their street. According to Telekom, it currently has 910,000 fiber optic customers in Germany, 263,000 more than a year ago. The proportion of households with fiber optic in the sidewalk or even in their cellar and who also use it as paying customers has therefore fallen to around 13 percent.
Group CEO Höttges: We need to improve our marketing
"We are currently building in the expectation that customers will come to us in the coming years," said Group CEO Tim Höttges. When asked why the usage rate is still so low, he said: "I would like to see even more Germans willing to buy fiber optics where it is available - we need to do even better in terms of marketing."
Telekom is currently being criticized. Smaller competitors and the industry association Breko are accusing the Bonn-based company of strategic "overbuilding" - in other words, that the company is announcing fiber optic expansion projects where other companies are already present and whose business calculations are being shaken by the impending presence of the market giant. The fact that two companies are laying fiber optics in one area separately from each other and are therefore missing out on the already scarce construction capacities in other areas is also causing frowns among politicians.
Höttges rejected the accusations on Thursday. In his view, such activities are part of normal competition. They are also good for consumers, who ultimately have a choice. Overbuilding by Telekom only occurs in two percent of the expansion areas, said the manager. In other areas, Telekom is overbuilding. He warned against regulatory intervention that would create local monopolies. "I would like to see a discussion in Germany that prioritizes the future viability of the infrastructure and the digital economy instead of calling for economic regression."
Deutsche Telekom presented its business figures on Thursday, according to which Group revenue slipped by 4.9 percent to 27.6 billion euros in the third quarter. This was due to a change in the leasing of terminal equipment and negative exchange rate effects. In organic terms, revenue increased slightly. On the bottom line, Telekom earned 1.9 billion euros, a good fifth more than a year earlier. The globally active group with a strong US subsidiary has around 204,000 full-time jobs, 60,000 of which are in Germany.
Deutsche Telekom's expansion in telecommunications, specifically fiber optic Internet, is leading to an increase in availability for more households. Despite the availability, only a small fraction of households are actively using the fiber optic services, which the CEO, Tim Höttges, believes could be improved with better marketing strategies.
Despite criticisms of strategic overbuilding and resource waste, Deutsche Telekom continues to invest in fiber optic expansion, considering it the best technology to meet the increasing data demands of the digital era, especially in telecommunications and internet services.
Source: www.dpa.com
