Deutsche Telekom said it is planning to invest more than $6.68 billion in network expansion across Europe over the next three years. DT, Europe’s largest phone company, announced that it has connected the first three of 10 countries in its planned European network: Croatia, Hungary and Slovakia. Users in those countries are now able to access products from a standardized platform.
“With our European network and the cross-border infrastructure, we will be able to set the tone and not just dance to the beat of drummers from the U.S. and Asia,” said CEO Timotheus Hoettges at this week’s Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, Spain. “We are the first multinational telecommunications company to be able to truly make use of the synergies that arise when the national companies work together. This is our master plan for the digitization of Europe.”
The first product is a business customer service for virtual private networks called “Cloud VPN.” TV and video game services for consumers will soon follow. Through its investment, DT said it is migrating up to 100,000 customer lines into IP technology each week. More than 8 million lines have already been migrated in Europe, 5 million in Germany alone.
“No other company is currently migrating more lines than Deutsche Telekom in Europe,” said Claudia Nemat, board member for Europe and technology at DT. The goal is to have all DT networks migrated by the end of 2018, allowing the company to be able to operate all the networks centrally.
Also at Mobile World Congress this week, DT announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft. The two companies will partner on sales of Microsoft’s Lumia smartphones and online services in Europe. In addition, Cisco announced that DT has launched its first cloud virtual private network service aimed at small and midsized businesses based on its pan-European IP network.
More telecom news from Europe, the Middle East and Africa:
Zain Kuwait, Huawei ink 4.5G partnership deal. The two companies announced a new strategic cooperation to trial and implement “4.5G” services, the technology considered to be a step toward “5G.” During the three years of the agreement, Zain Kuwait and Huawei said they will pilot new 4.5G solutions, including radio access networks and network virtualization architecture.
Orange CEO hints at tie-up with Telecom Italia. At Mobile World Congress, Orange CEO Stephane Richard said a potential combination with Telecom Italia would be attractive. There are no formal talks underway, and one observer commented that it was just Richard’s way of testing an idea, but the comments were enough to drive struggling Telecom Italia’s stock to a 4-year high, according to Reuters.
MTN may sell 9,000 towers in South Africa. CEO Sifiso Dabengwa said potential buyers have approached the telecom operator about purchasing its network of 9,000 towers in South Africa, Bloomberg reported. In September, MTN sold a stake in its tower business in Nigeria in a deal worth $1.8 billion.
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