<Deutsche Telekom has officially launched the rollout of its German UMTS network.>
<Full coverage of Germany is expected in 2010.>
<Twenty cities are to be linked up by the end of the year, at a cost of around E140 million,>
<Siemens is providing the infrastructure as part of an overall contract that includes UMTS kit for DT's presence in Austria and the U.K.>
Deutsche Telekom announces UMTS rollout
By Ouida Taaffe, Total Telecom, in Berlin
07 February 2002
Deutsche Telekom has officially launched the rollout of its German UMTS network. Twenty cities are to be linked up by the end of the year, at a cost of around E140 million, with Berlin, Essen and Frankfurt among the first to be connected.
Full coverage of Germany is expected in 2010. Siemens is providing the infrastructure as part of an overall contract that includes UMTS kit for DT's presence in Austria and the U.K. Deutsche Telekom did not disclose the size of the contract but a source quoted by Reuters put the value of the deal at E350 million.
Reuters sources also said the operator will sign UMTS equipment deals with Nokia and Nortel by the end of the second quarter.
Sommer told journalists in Berlin that he expects T-Mobile, DT's mobile unit, to be profitable - both at home and abroad - for three main reasons. Firstly, DT has no greenfield operations. Secondly, it can call on the support of other parts of the DT group, including T-Online, DT's Internet operation. Thirdly, Sommer argued, DT has an advantage in being the only company with GSM operations in both the U.S. and Europe.
He expects business customers who are frequent international travellers to be among the first to take up UMTS services. He also argued that, though the Americans have "a great affinity" for the Internet, actual fixed-line connections in the U.S. can be slower than GPRS.
It is intended that WLAN will be used to supplement UMTS coverage, giving users "all-in services".
DT said Thursday it would be able to operate 3G services profitably if it achieved average monthly sales per client of E50, Reuters reported. The carrier said it aims to reap monthly revenues of E60 per user by 2010.
He was also unwilling to expand on the share of traffic over DT's GSM networks that data currently represents. However, it was said that DT currently carries around 900 million SMS messages in Germany each month.
Mixed video and text messages, so-called "SMS TV Chat," have been sent 9 million times in Germany since their introduction at the end of July last year.
Asked by Total Telecom if DT would consider selling its stakes in Ben, of the Netherlands, or Celcom, of Malaysia, and what its intentions in the Czech Republic are (where it has a stake in Radiomobil and is said to have bid for Radiokom), Sommer replied that DT does not intend to sell any of its mobile operations and that Central and Eastern European operations are seen as key.
He added that DT still intends to get its debt down by around E20 billion. He did not name a timeframe for this. DT currently has debt of around E66 billion. |
