Positive development in mobile communications -T-Online increases customer base by 57 percent - T-Systems second-largest Europe system house - Headed for success in the fixed network - Dividend unchanged at EUR 0.62 The 2000 financial year was the most successful year in Deutsche Telekom's history. Group revenue totaled EUR 40.9 billion, an increase of 5.4 billion against the previous year. In the 2000 financial year, net income increased from EUR 1.3 billion to EUR 5.9 billion. "This is an achievement unmatched at any other time in Deutsche Telekom's history", Chairman Dr. Ron Sommer emphasized at the 2001 Shareholders' Meeting on Tuesday in Cologne. Since spring 2000, the development of the T-Share price has been thoroughly unsatisfactory. " I am firmly convinced that we will see a turnaround as soon as the general market sentiment improves. The fundamentals all point clearly towards a much higher share price than our current market value, and this is further reinforced by the many achievements."
Against the background of the positive business developments, the Board of Management and Supervisory Board propose to the Shareholders' Meeting that, for the 2000 financial year, an unchanged dividend of EUR 0.62 per individual no-par-value share be paid on the dividend-bearing capital stock amounting to EUR 7.7 billion. This dividend represents a total sum of almost EUR 1.88 billion.
The restructuring of the company was completed in the first quarter of 2001 with the organizational establishment of the four pillars - T-Mobile , T-Online, T-Systems , T-Com . Deutsche Telekom has thus made the fundamental paradigm shift from the classic telephone company to an integrated TIMES provider and in laid the foundation for successful business policy.
T-Mobil supports positive development This successful development is attributable to several factors. Revenue from mobile communications increased by more than 75 percent from EUR 5.3 billion to EUR 9.2 billion. In Germany, T-Mobil more than doubled its customer base to over 19 million subscribers at the end of the year. If the customers of non-consolidated companies within the Group are also taken into account, the total number of customers worldwide increased to 42 million. This positive development is continuing in 2001. T-D1 now has around 21.5 million customers in the German market. Deutsche Telekom's entry into the US market represents a giant step towards achieving the central corporate objective of developing T-Mobile into a global brand name. A potential of 150 million new mobile phone customers is predicted for the US by 2009. With VoiceStream and Powertel Deutsche Telekom will be in a unique position as a GSM provider in the US market.
T-Online increases customer base by approximately 57 percent
T-Online also contributed to the Group's positive development with a revenue increase of more than 85 percent to about EUR 800 million. Its national customer base expanded by 57 percent, from 4.2 million to 6.5 million subscribers. Internationally, T-Online numbered approximately 8 million customers throughout the Group as a whole as per the end of 2000, making it the highest-coverage Internet provider in Europe. At the end of the first quarter of 2001, this figure had reached 8.7 million.
T-Systems : Second-largest system house in Europe Strengthened by the company debis Systemhaus and with a realigned structure, T-Systems started operations in early February. As a global company focusing on the needs of sophisticated corporate clients, T-Systems is the second-largest system house in Europe and Germany's biggest software service provider and has a unique, nationwide service network. As such, T-Systems integrates telecommunications and information technology, creating futuristic e-business systems solutions. The combination of these possibilities is leading to the creation of a new market: the market emerging from the convergence of these two technologies. Extraordinary growth potential is forecast for this market: the market in western Europe is expected to experience annual growth of 65 percent and have a revenue volume of around EUR 100 billion by 2004.
T-Com : Headed for success in the fixed network
Fixed-network business was also an important growth pillar in the past financial year. The ISDN boom, for example, is continuing unabated: At the end of the first quarter of 2001, there were some 18.6 million channels in operation and around 19 million marketed. This growth trend can also be seen in the development of broadband T-DSL lines. More than 900,000 lines have now been sold, 600,000 of which are already in operation. Deutsche Telekom's tariff option models have also developed particularly pleasingly. More than 6.5 million customers now use the AktivPlus tariff. Of these, we acquired 3.7 million new customers in 2000. At present, more than 300,000 new subscribers are joining us every month. Just under 1 million T-ISDN xxl contracts have already been concluded.
Taking a comparable basis for figures and predictions, the Deutsche Telekom Group expects furthermore to increase group revenue by at least 15 percent and to achieve a double-digit increase in EBITDA.