Deutsche Telekom CEO Timotheus Hottges today said telecom operator’s investments in property, plant and network equipment are expected to increase in the next four years by 1 to 2 percent per year.
Its Capex (capital investment) in 2014 rose 7.6 percent to $10.8 billion or 9.5 billion euros.
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Deutsche Telekom said its Q4 2014 revenue increased 8.5 percent to 17 billion euros and 2014 revenue rose 4.2 percent to 62.7 billion euros.
Deutsche Telekom CEO Timotheus Hottges said: “With massive investments in our networks, we are forging ahead toward becoming the leading European telecommunications provider. Our strategy as an integrated provider makes us the first choice for customers.”
Deutsche Telekom expects its adjusted EBITDA to increase from 17.6 billion euros in 2014 to 18.3 billion euros in 2015 — mainly driven by the positive operational development of the U.S. business.
Focus on network coverage
The telecom operator believes that the IP transformation of its fixed networks, the pan-European network based on all IP, and the integrated network strategy will achieve efficiency improvements and simplifications into production. The migration of networks to all IP throughout the entire Group will be completed by 2018.
In 2014, the increase in the population coverage of the LTE networks of group companies amounted to more than 110 million people. LTE network in Germany will reach population coverage of 95 percent in 2018 against 65 percent in 2014.
By 2018, the group is planning to supply Internet bandwidths of at least 50 MBit/s to another 5.9 million households via local area vectoring. By 2018, 80 percent of households could be provided with superfast Internet access.
Its European subsidiaries plan to offer fiber optic-based lines for around 80 percent of households and achieve transmission speeds of more than 100 MBit/s for around 50 percent of households.
Deutsche Telekom, which sold its stake in the British mobile communications company EE to BT, will also participate in consolidation moves in Europe.
Q4 network strategies
In the fourth quarter, 323,000 German customers opted for a fiber-optic-based line, 143 percent more than in the prior year. Deutsche Telekom recorded strong customer additions in the VDSL roll-out areas, triggered by the market launch of 1.3 million vectoring households.
Deutsche Telekom said its European subsidiaries added 15,000 LTE base stations by the end of 2014. In the fixed network, the share of IP-based lines rose 12 percentage points to 39 percent.
Baburajan K
[email protected]
