Deutsche Telekom and Telefonica in network sharing deal for 5G

Deutsche Telekom and Telefonica Deutschland announced a new network sharing contract to focus on cost effective roll out of 5G in Germany.
5G trials RussiaThe new agreement – to connect nearly 5,000 Telefonica Deutschland mobile base stations with Deutsche Telekom’s fiber-optic network — builds on a mobile backhaul contract signed in 2011.

“The resources that we save will be dedicated directly to our own network upgrades and the development of 5G,” said Dirk Wossner, managing director of Telekom Deutschland.

“By using the available infrastructure, we can accelerate the expansion of our mobile network and get a significant portion of our mobile base stations in shape for the future 5G standard,” Markus Haas, CEO of Telefonica Deutschland, said.

The two network operators are creating a foundation for upgrading the 3G and 4G antennas at their base stations to 5G in the coming years.

Deutsche Telekom fiber plans

Deutsche Telekom plans to lay the fiber-optic cables using microtrenching technology to reduce costs. Microtrenching removes the need to dig out huge trenches. Instead, narrow grooves are milled into the road/sidewalk surface.

Deutsche Telekom aims to lay 40,000 km of new fiber-optic cables this year – up from the 30,000 originally planned for Germany. Deutsche Telekom plans to lay fiber cable in 60,000 km in the coming year. Deutsche Telekom’s fiber-optic network now totals 455,000 km in length.

Deutsche Telekom and AI

Deutsche Telekom has become the first network operator in Europe to plan a pilot project for fiber-optic roll-out using artificial intelligence.

“By using artificial intelligence in the planning phase we can speed up our fiber-optic roll-out. This enables us to offer our customers broadband lines faster and, above all, more efficiently,” says Walter Goldenits, head of Technology at Telekom Deutschland.

Deutsche Telekom invests around five billion euros per year towards Capex to boost network. Deutsche Telekom has over 460,000 kilometers of fiber optic network in Europe. Deutsche Telekom installed some 40,000 kilometers of optical fiber in 2017 and plans to add 60,000 kilometers in 2018, increasing fiber-optic network to 500,000 plus kilometers.

Telefonica Deutschland result

Telefonica Deutschland earlier announced Capex of €424m (–2.3 percent) benefiting from efficient Capex management and incremental synergies of ~€25 million in the first half of 2018.

Telefonica Deutschland’s revenues reached €1,758 million (–1.2 percent) in Q2 2018 and €3,525 million in H1 18 (–0.8 percent). OIBDA was €479 million (+0.3 percent) in Q2 18 and €882 million (+0.5 percent) in H1.

OIBDA margin was at 27.2 percent (+0.4 p.p.) in the second quarter and 25 percent (+0.3 p.p.) in H1 2018, driven by the focus on profitable growth and efficient cost management, Telefonica Germany said.

Baburajan K