Deutsche Telekom Sees No Need for U.S Consolidation
Deutsche Telekom AG Chief Financial Officer Timotheus Hoettges said there’s no need for further consolidation of the U.S. mobile-phone market.
“There are four national players in the U.S. market for 300 million households, while in Europe, where we have 350 million households, there are 50-70 operators,” Hoettges said, after a conference in Frankfurt today. “We believe in our chances of being the challenger.”
Deutsche Telekom’s current focus in the U.S. is on expanding its so-called third-generation, high-speed network. The company, Europe’s largest phone company, was slow to start building its third-generation offerings in the U.S. This year, it invested $3.5 billion euros in the network.
“There is no question that we lost customers because many of our customers couldn’t get 3G.,” Hoettges said. “We now have to make sure that we can capitalize on the network in the top-10 cities where we have invested.”
The market for mobile data is booming in the U.S. and “we have to participate in that boom,” Hoettges said.
Deutsche Telekom gets 24 percent of its revenue from T- Mobile USA, ranked fourth in the U.S. in terms of subscribers. Sprint Nextel Corp., the No. 3, and T-Mobile have reported falling revenue as larger AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. lured away contract customers. Sprint’s sales dropped 10 percent last quarter, while T-Mobile’s declined 2.3 percent.
Fourth-Generation Network
On the fourth-generation spectrum, Hoettges said the company in still considering options of whether to enter into partnerships, wait for President Barack Obama’s administration to auction off more licenses or buy licenses from someone.
“That is not yet decided,” he said. “We have to consider all options.”
In September, two people familiar with the matter said that Deutsche Telekom is in talks with Clearwire Corp., owned 51 percent by Spring, and with MetroPCS Communications Inc., about getting access to their networks.
Clearwire needs $2 billion to complete its own fourth- generation network expansion and Deutsche Telekom could provide funding in exchange for access, one of the people said. MetroPCS and Clearwire each own airwaves suitable for fourth-generation networks, which can provide faster service for Web-equipped phones than their predecessors.
Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile USA unit hasn’t announced its own expansion plans for fourth generation while larger rivals like Verizon and AT&T are upgrading their systems.
source
“There are four national players in the U.S. market for 300 million households, while in Europe, where we have 350 million households, there are 50-70 operators,” Hoettges said, after a conference in Frankfurt today. “We believe in our chances of being the challenger.”
Deutsche Telekom’s current focus in the U.S. is on expanding its so-called third-generation, high-speed network. The company, Europe’s largest phone company, was slow to start building its third-generation offerings in the U.S. This year, it invested $3.5 billion euros in the network.
“There is no question that we lost customers because many of our customers couldn’t get 3G.,” Hoettges said. “We now have to make sure that we can capitalize on the network in the top-10 cities where we have invested.”
The market for mobile data is booming in the U.S. and “we have to participate in that boom,” Hoettges said.
Deutsche Telekom gets 24 percent of its revenue from T- Mobile USA, ranked fourth in the U.S. in terms of subscribers. Sprint Nextel Corp., the No. 3, and T-Mobile have reported falling revenue as larger AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. lured away contract customers. Sprint’s sales dropped 10 percent last quarter, while T-Mobile’s declined 2.3 percent.
Fourth-Generation Network
On the fourth-generation spectrum, Hoettges said the company in still considering options of whether to enter into partnerships, wait for President Barack Obama’s administration to auction off more licenses or buy licenses from someone.
“That is not yet decided,” he said. “We have to consider all options.”
In September, two people familiar with the matter said that Deutsche Telekom is in talks with Clearwire Corp., owned 51 percent by Spring, and with MetroPCS Communications Inc., about getting access to their networks.
Clearwire needs $2 billion to complete its own fourth- generation network expansion and Deutsche Telekom could provide funding in exchange for access, one of the people said. MetroPCS and Clearwire each own airwaves suitable for fourth-generation networks, which can provide faster service for Web-equipped phones than their predecessors.
Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile USA unit hasn’t announced its own expansion plans for fourth generation while larger rivals like Verizon and AT&T are upgrading their systems.
source
Posts
No comments: