Deutsche Telekom: customer numbers 2007

  • Significant increas of customer base in Germany and abroad 
  • T-Mobile International has almost 120 millions customers 

Berlin 29 January 2008 - In the 2007 financial year, Deutsche Telekom significantly increased its customer base in Germany and abroad and systematically implemented the Group's "Focus, fix and grow" strategy. Not only the marketing of attractive products, such as Entertain, MyFaves and Apple iPhone, but also the new rates from T-Home and T-Mobile introduced last year enhanced the company's competitiveness. In addition, the acquisition of Orange in the Netherlands contributed to the growth in mobile customers.

T-Home again secured a leading position in terms of DSL broadband lines following positive development of its complete packages on the domestic market. With a new broadband customer ratio of almost 44 percent, the target of 40 to 45 percent was clearly reached, making T-Home the number one on the German market. The number of retail DSL broadband customers rose by 526,000 in the fourth quarter. As a result, more than 9 million customers in Germany now have a broadband line direct from T-Home. This represents an increase of almost 2 million customers in 2007. In addition, around 3.5 million resale lines were marketed via external competitors. The total number of DSL lines in Germany from T-Home therefore increased by around 22 percent year-on-year to more than 12.5 million lines. The Broadband/Fixed Network business area increased the number of broadband lines in Eastern Europe by around 40 percent to just under 1.4 million subscribers.

As of the reporting date, 10.1 million customers had opted for one of the complete packages - an increase of more than 200 percent compared to the previous year figure of 3.3 million.1.1 million new customers were added in the fourth quarter alone. The Entertain package has also demonstrated its suitability for the mass market: Between the beginning of September and the end of the year, the total number of customers connected was increased to 116,000 with 150,000 Entertain packages having been sold by the end of 2007.

A total of around 2.1 million lines were lost in Germany in 2007, 537,000 of which were in the fourth quarter - the same level as last year.

T-Mobile successfully continued to expand its customer base in the 2007 financial year. The national companies in Eastern Europe and the USA were drivers of this growth. In addition to organic growth, the acquisition of Orange in the Netherlands contributed to the positive subscriber development. As of the reporting date, the number of mobile customers worldwide had risen to a total of 119.6 million including the some 2.2 million customers from Orange Nederland. Net additions amounted to 11.1 million last year, representing an increase of 10.3 percent. Customers found the mobile Internet and data services particularly attractive. By the end of 2007, 3.2 million T-Mobile customers in Europe were already using mobile Internet via web'n'walk. 

T-Mobile also continued to increase its customer base in Germany and reported almost 36 million customers as of the year-end. Almost 1 million of these customers opted for fixed-term contracts in 2007, of which 385,000 in the fourth quarter alone. In particular, the introduction of further innovative products significantly reinforced T-Mobile's competitiveness in Germany. Following its market launch at the beginning of October, T‑Mobile's new MyFaves calling plan attracted over 100,000 net additions in Germany. Since the revolutionary iPhone was introduced in Germany at the beginning of November, it has been purchased by 70,000 customers to date in conjunction with a T-Mobile contract.

T-Mobile USA once again made the largest contribution to continued growth abroad, recording 28.7 million customers as of the end of the financial year. In the fourth quarter of 2007, T-Mobile gained 951,000 net additions in the USA, 733,000 of which were contract customers. The extremely positive development of the MyFaves calling plan contributed significantly to this growth, with 5 million customers opting for MyFaves between its market launch and the end of the year. In addition, the new FlexPay Service enabled the customer base to be expanded. With an innovative prepaid system, almost the entire range of T-Mobile USA services and devices is available to customers in the United States using FlexPay. The acquisition of SunCom will further enhance Deutsche Telekom's position in the US market.

T-Mobile UK has also continued to develop extremely well. 406,000 net additions last year brought the total number of customers to 17.3 million. The Flext calling plan continues to be in great demand, with 2.1 million customers as of the end of the year. 

All in all, this means that Deutsche Telekom is leading the field in mobile and broadband business in Europe.

Development of customer numbers in 2007

Broadband/Fixed Network Dec.31, 2007 (thousands) Dec.31, 2006 (thousands) Change (thousands) Change in %
Broadband
Lines (total) 1,2) 13,927 11,272 2,655 23.6 
- Domestic 1) 12,543 10,280 2,263 22.0
of which: retail 9,019 7,068 1,951 27.6
- International 1.2) 1,384 992 392 39.5
ISP broadband rates (total) 2,3) 9,869 7,127 2,742 38.5
of which: domestic 8,692 6,288 2,404 38.2
Fixed-network lines
Linky (celkem)  1,2) 36,554 38,961 (2,407) (6.2)
Lines (total) 1,2) 31,055 33,192 (2,137) (6.4)
of which: ISDN lines 8,624 9,035 (411) (4.5)
- International 1.2) 5,500 5,769 (269) (4.7)
ISP narrowband rates (total) 2,3) 2,338 3,121 (783) (25.1)
Wholesale/resale
DSL resale 4) 3,741 3,375 366 10.8
of which: domestic 3,524 3,212 312 9.7
Unbundled local loop lines 5) 6,376 4,662 1,714 36.8

Notes: The total was calculated on the basis of precise figures and rounded to millions. Percentages are calculated on the basis of figures shown.
1) Telephone lines in operation excluding lines for internal use and public telecommunications, including wholesale services.
2) International includes Eastern Europe with T-Hrvatski Telekom, Slovak Telekom and Magyar Telekom including subsidiaries MakTel and Crnogorski Telekom. T-Online France and T-Online Spain were deconsolidated in 2007 and are not included here. Prior-year figures have been adjusted accordingly.
3) ISP: Internet Service Provider                          
4) Definition of resale: Sale of broadband lines based on DSL technology to alternative providers outside the Deutsche Telekom Group.
5) Unbundled local loop lines in Germany only: Deutsche Telekom wholesale service that can be leased by other telecommunications operators without upstream technical equipment in order to offer their own customers a telephone or DSL line.

T-Mobile International
Mobile Communications Dec.31, 2007 (thousands) Dec.31, 2006 (thousands) Change (thousands) Change in %
Mobile customers 1) Total 119,606 108,465 11,141 10.3
in Europe 90,921 83,425 7,496 9.0
in the United States
(T-Mobile USA)
28,685 25,041 3,644 14.6
T-Mobile Deutschland 2) 35,952 31,398 4,554 14.5
T-Mobile UK 3) 17,311 16,905 406 2.4
PTC (Poland) 12,998 12,228 770 6.3
T-Mobile Austria (A) 3,273 3,180 93 2.9
T-Mobile Netherlands(NL) 1) 4,889 4,599 290 6.3
T-Mobile CZ
(Czech Republic)
5,271 5,049 222 4.4
T-Mobile Hungary 4,853 4,431 422 9.5
T-Mobile Slovensko (Slovakia) 2,367 2,201 166 7.5
Other 4) 4,007 3,435 572  16.7

Notes: 
1) One mobile card corresponds to one customer. The total was calculated on the basis of precise figures and rounded to millions. Percentages are calculated on the basis of figures shown. Organic customer growth is reported for better comparability: Orange NL customers, which amounted to 2.0 million as of the reporting date in 2006 and 2.2 million as of the reporting date in 2007, were also included in the historic customer base, although the shares were not acquired until October 2007.
2) As a result of court proceedings against competitors, T-Mobile Deutschland changed its deactivation policy at the beginning of 2007 in favor of its prepaid customers. These customers can now use their prepaid credit longer than before. Accordingly, far fewer customers were deactivated in 2007. Historical figures were not adjusted.
3) Including Virgin Mobile.
4) "Other" includes T-Mobile Croatia, T-Mobile Macedonia and T-Mobile Crna Gora (Montenegro).

Net additions for the fourth quarter of 2007

Broadband/Fixed Network Q4 ending Dec. 31, 2007 (thousands) Q4 ending Dec. 31, 2006 (thousands) Change (thousands) Change
in %
Broadband
Lines (total) 1,2) 663 1,027 (364) (35.4)
- Domestic 1) 526 878 (352) (40.1
of which: retail 526 563 (37) (6.6)
- International 1.2) 137 149 (12) (8.1)
ISP broadband rates (total) 2,3) 546 983 (437) (44.5)
of which: domestic 610 840 (230) (27.4)
Fixed-network lines
Lines (total) 1,2) (612) (537) (75) (14.0)
- Domestic 1) (537) (503) (34) (6.8)
of which: ISDN lines (80) (147) 67 45.6
- International 1.2) (75) (34) (41) (120.6)
ISP narrowband rates (total) 2,3) (168) (354) 186 52.5
Wholesale/resale
DSL resale 4) 22 335 (313) (93.4)
of which: domestic 0 315 (315) (100.0)
Unbundled local loop lines 5) 494 343 151 44.0

Notes: The total was calculated on the basis of precise figures and rounded to millions. Percentages are calculated on the basis of figures shown.
1) Telephone lines in operation excluding lines for internal use and public telecommunications, including wholesale services.
2) International includes Eastern Europe with T-Hrvatski Telekom, Slovak Telekom and Magyar Telekom including subsidiaries MakTel and Crnogorski Telekom. T-Online France and T-Online Spain were deconsolidated in 2007 and are not included here. Prior-year figures have been adjusted accordingly.
3) ISP: Internet Service Provider                          
4) Definition of resale: Sale of broadband lines based on DSL technology to alternative providers outside the Deutsche Telekom Group.
5) Unbundled local loop lines in Germany only: Deutsche Telekom wholesale service that can be leased by other telecommunications operators without upstream technical equipment in order to offer their own customers a telephone or DSL line.

Net additions for the fourth quarter of 2007 - mobile communications

T-Mobile International
Mobile communications Q4 ending Dec. 31, 2007 (thousands) Q4 ending Dec. 31, 2006 (thousands) Change (thousands) Change
in %
 
Mobile customers 1)Total 3,745 2,971 774 26.1
in Europe 2,794 2,069 725 35.0
in the United States
(T-Mobile USA)
951 901 50 5.5
T-Mobile Deutschland 2) 1,481 746 735 98.4
T-Mobile UK 3) 306 246 60 24.4
PTC (Poland) 277 316 (39) (12.3)
T-Mobile Austria (A) 47 24 23 95.8
T-Mobile Netherlands (NL) 1) 63 121 (58) (47.9)
T-Mobile CZ
(Czech Republic)
64 226 (162) (71.7)
T-Mobile Hungary 225 124 101 81.5
T-Mobile Slovensko (Slovakia) 61 105 (44) (41.9)
Other 4) 272 162 110 67.9

Notes: 
1) One mobile card corresponds to one customer. The total was calculated on the basis of precise figures and rounded to millions. Percentages are calculated on the basis of figures shown. Organic customer growth is reported for better comparability: Orange NL customers, which amounted to 2.0 million as of the reporting date in 2006 and 2.2 million as of the reporting date in 2007, were also included in the historic customer base, although the shares were not acquired until October 2007.
2) As a result of court proceedings against competitors, T-Mobile Deutschland changed its deactivation policy at the beginning of 2007 in favor of its prepaid customers. These customers can now use their prepaid credit longer than before. Accordingly, far fewer customers were deactivated in 2007. Historical figures were not adjusted.
3) Including Virgin Mobile.
4) "Other" includes T-Mobile Croatia, T-Mobile Macedonia and T-Mobile Crna Gora (Montenegro).


 
About the Company

T-Mobile Czech Republic, a member of the international telecommunications group Deutsche Telekom, has almost 6.2 million customers, the number-one operator in the Czech market. T-Mobile is an integrated operator: in addition to telecommunications services, it offers comprehensive ICT solutions not only for companies, but also for other organizations and individuals. It provides outstanding services in the high-speed network, which was proved repeatedly by benchmark testing performed by umlaut (former P3) with Best-in-Test seal.

T-Mobile Czech Republic places emphasis on taking a responsible approach to the environment and society. It adheres to fair business practices, helps beneficial applications and services to see the light of day, supports non-profit organizations, small businesses and individuals, and lends a helping hand whenever crisis situations arise. The company’s employees serve as volunteers in many places across the entire Czech Republic.

More information about the company is available at www.t-mobile.cz, www.t-press.cz (the portal for journalists) and www.t-mobile.cz/pomahame (information on the company’s CSR activities).

Contact details of the press unit: press@t-press.cz.