Deutsche Telekom

Deutsche Telekom AG
Company type	Public (ISIN: DE0005557508, FWB: DTE, NYSE: DT, LSE: DEU, TYO: 9496)
Industry	internet service provider; telecommunications industry; telecommunications; mobile phone industry
Founded	1996
Headquarters	Bonn, Germany
Key people	René Obermann, Chairman & CEO
Products	Fixed telephone ; Mobile telephone ; Broadband, Internet services ; IT/Network services
Revenue	€61,3 billion (2006)
Operating income	34,493,000,000 Euro (2023)
Net income	17,788,000,000 Euro (2023)
Total assets	290,305,000,000 Euro (2023)
Number of employees	199,652 (2023)
Website	www.telekom.de

Deutsche Telekom AG (ISIN: DE0005557508, FWB: DTE, NYSE: DT, LSE: DEU, TYO: 9496) (English translation: German Telecom) (abbreviated DTAG) is a telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It is the largest telecommunications company in Germany and in the EU.

Deutsche Telekom was formed in 1996 as the former state-owned monopoly Deutsche Bundespost was privatized. As of 2005, the German government still holds a 15.7% stake in company stock directly, and another 14% through the government bank KfW. 4.5% of the company is owned by the Private equity firm Blackstone Group.

The former CEO Kai-Uwe Ricke was ousted by the board of the company because of slumping sales and the flight of customers to cheaper competitors. More than 1.5 million customers changed to rival companies during 2005 and 2006 and as a result, Deutsche Telekom laid off more than 30,000 workers. The new CEO was announced on November 12 2006 after a long-night board session: René Obermann, the former CEO of T-Mobile International.

The predecessor of Ricke, Ron Sommer chairman of Deutsche Telekom since 1995 to 2002, was ousted because of the drop of the share of the Deutsche Telekom in 2002. On the height of the "dot-com-bubble", the share was over €100 and fell significantly to about €12/share during a couple of months. Sommer said that "he had some opinion-based difficulties between him and board of the Telekom".

Holdings

All subsidiaries of Deutsche Telekom have names starting with "T-".

T-Home (formerly T-Com), a legacy telephone and fixed network carrier and IPTV operator
- T-Online, an internet service provider (ISP)
T-Mobile, a mobile phone provider
T-Systems, a business division focused on providing to large customers

A new Group structure was introduced on January 1, 2005, Deutsche Telekom has merged the two organizational business units of T-Com and T-Online into the Broadband/Fixed Network (BBFN) strategic business area. With around 40 million narrowband lines, over 9 million broadband lines and 14 million registered Internet customers, the Broadband/Fixed Network business area is one of the largest providers in Europe. R&D is now driven by Deutsche Telekom Laboratories (T-Labs).

Deutsche Telekom also holds substantial shares in other telecom companies, including Central European subsidiaries T-Slovak Telekom (Slovakia), Magyar Telekom (Hungary), and T-Hrvatski Telekom (Croatia), which are now fully consolidated into T-Com/T-Home. Furthermore, Magyar Telekom holds majority shares in Orbitel (Bulgaria), Combridge (Romania), Makedonski Telekom (Republic of Macedonia), and T-Crnogorski Telekom (Montenegro) all of which have also been rebranded and included under the T-Com/T-Home umbrella.