DT shareholders approve plans to merge domestic fixed, mobile units

The shareholders of German telecoms group Deutsche Telekom (DT) have approved plans to merge the company’s domestic T-Home and T-Mobile divisions to create a single company in order to increase competitiveness. ‘Now is the right time to merge our mobile and fixed network business. Two healthy, competitive business areas will become even stronger by joining forces,’ noted Rene Obermann, chairman of the board of management, at the extraordinary shareholders meeting held yesterday. The company hopes the merger will place DT in a better position to offer integrated solutions and services for fixed network and mobile communications from a single source. According to Obermann, only one in five of DT’s 29 million customer households currently have a fixed and a mobile contract with the company; if it could persuade just 1% of the remaining customers to sign up for a second contract, DT’s revenue could increase by up to EUR100 million (USD149 million) a year. Overall, the company expects the spin-off to generate a medium-term boost in earnings of up to EUR600 million. In July this year DT introduced a new management structure with a more regionally and functionally-oriented focus.