Deutsche Telekom has explained how the German telecom operator reduced Opex (operation cost) by 2.5 percent in the third quarter of 2017.

Deutsche Telekom posted revenue of 18.3 billion euros (+0.8 percent) adjusted EBITDA of 5.7 billion euros (+3.3 percent).

“Deutsche Telekom continues to post strong growth, which is why we are upgrading our forecast for the second time this year,” said Tim Hottges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom. “This was made possible by our booming U.S. business, strong performance in Germany, and the positive trends in our European subsidiaries.”

Capex

Deutsche Telekom said the 9.6 percent growth in Capex (capital expenditure) to over 3 billion euros in Q3 was the real reason for the growth in revenue.
Capex of Deutsche Telekom exceeded 9.2 billion euros (+12.2 percent) in the first nine months of 2017. Deutsche Telekom is planning cash Capex of around 12 billion euros for the full year in order to enhance customer experience.

Deutsche Telekom will be making a cash Capex of over 5 billion euros in Germany alone – across all operating segments – focusing on infrastructure for fiber-optic cables in the fixed network through to Europe’s largest data center in Biere.

Germany added 700,000 new fiber-optic lines (FTTC/vectoring, FTTH) in Q3 to reach 8.9 million.
Deutsche Telekom said 28.8 million households in Germany have access to fiber-optic products, 15 percent or 3.7 million households more than a year ago. Deutsche Telekom has converted two-thirds of lines to IP technology.

Europe’s broadband coverage in both the fixed and mobile networks improved in the third quarter of 2017, with 5.7 million households now having access to bandwidths of at least 100 Mbit/s in the fixed network. LTE covers 105 million people, 20 million more than a year ago.