- Anticipated refresh of the Group’s tech ecosystem strategy sees org changes within T-Systems and Group Development.
- T.Capital buys into nuclear power through tie-up with increasingly high-profile German startup Marvel Fusion.
- T-Mobile takes a financial hit for past string of data breaches.
- Rival Vodafone highlights out-flanking manoeuvre on German fibre.
- Elsewhere: T-Mobile re-hires exec to lead new AI tech hub; Telekom Deutschland’s train comms project is on time.
Deutsche Telekomwatch Weekly: bringing together the latest from around TelcoTitans and beyond.
Hello from the TelcoTitans team, and welcome to this week’s Deutsche Telekomwatch briefing, rounding up the latest developments from around the Group’s footprint.
This week’s edition focused primarily on the run-up to Deutsche Telekom’s Capital Markets Day, due to be held later this week, and further signals of how central divisions and national businesses have been rethinking their strategic plans ahead of the event.
Among them are T-Systems, which is refreshing its approach to solution development and innovation, and Group Development’s T.Capital unit, which has been readying itself to begin deploying DT’s new €2bn Tech Fund.
We will have more on Capital Markets Day developments in the coming days.
The week’s main developments
- Tech warchest readied; T.Capital seeks power; T-Systems seeks innovation allies.
- In-house consultant Julia Kainz is to take charge of DT’s new €2bn Tech Fund, amid ongoing anticipation of a wider refresh of the Group’s M&A strategy at its Capital Markets Day, scheduled for Thursday. Kainz will oversee a €2bn strategic acquisition and investment push that DT is expected to outline at the event, drawing on experience working within the Group on digital transformation and B2B innovation.
Full story: DT picks in-house exec to lead new €2bn tech M&A fund - The signs are that this cash is already starting to flow. DT’s T.Capital venturing arm, which has been recalibrating into a fuller, strategic M&A outfit within the operator’s Group Development division, is expected to run the new the Tech Fund — and has in recent weeks taken a stake in Germany-based Marvel Fusion, a cleantech startup that DT hopes will help it reach its 2040 net zero deadline. The business aims to have a nuclear fusion plant up and running within the next decade. We have updated our tables on T.Capital’s portfolio ahead of the Capital Markets Day.
Full stories: T.Capital: a dip into DT’s growing tech funding pool; Deutsche Telekom plugs into nuclear fusion tech startup - The run-up to the Capital Markets Day is also seeing hints of an innovation strategy refresh at T-Systems. The division has created a new Digital Ventures function, and appears to be preparing a delve into tech incubation, as part of a move to widen its partner ecosystem on development of new products. Former Porsche innovation exec Sören Schulz, who has been charged with setting up the Digital Ventures function, said its focus will be on helping customers build “customised digital products that inspire and create sustainable value over their whole life cycle”.
Full story: T-Systems eyes software tie-ups with new Digital Ventures arm - Not to be outdone on the deal-making front, DT-affiliated tech and infrastructure investment group Digital Transformation Capital Partners (DTCP) has expanded its data centre interests by funding Northern Ireland- and Republic of Ireland-focused player Atlantic Hub. Founded in 2018, Atlantic Hub is building out two data centres in County Donegal and Derry.
Full story: DTCP gives Irish data centre player a cash injection - After using its own recent Capital Markets Day to showcase new tech partnerships based on customer and network data, T‑Mobile US’ stakeholders received a reminder of the operator’s past missteps on data governance. It agreed an eight-figure payout to the Federal Communications Commission for the numerous data breaches it has suffered in recent years, as well as re-committing to upgrades in how it handles cybersecurity.
Full story: T-Mobile takes $31.5m FCC hit for data breaches - In Germany, arch-rival Vodafone claims to have overtaken Telekom Deutschland on full-fibre market reach, having — after much delay — activated wholesale services on both the NatCo’s platform and that of altnet Deutsche Glasfaser. Vodafone now says it is marketing fibre broadband services to more than eleven million premises in Germany.
Full story: Vodafone Germany extends fibre offer after stitching together rival networks
People moves
Farooq lured back to lead T-Mobile’s AI tech hub
- Germany: Cathérine Giesecke, previously an exec at Germany property group Vonovia, has joined DT as Head of Real Estate Operations.
- T-Systems: Catharina Claus has been promoted to become Head of Business Intelligence at T-Systems. She was previously Manager of Business Development & Innovation, Data Analytics.
- Steffen Roos has an expanded brief at T-Systems consulting business Detecon, as Regional Head for Germany Services & industries. He previously headed Detecon’s Telco business in Germany.
- Luzian Schymassek has taken over as Head of Cloud Services for T-Systems’ Automotive vertical. He was previously Vice-President of Digital & Security Solutions at operational services, the division’s IT services side business.
- USA: DocuSign exec Omer Farooq had rejoined T-Mobile US as Director of the operator’s AI Technology Center of Excellence, as it ramps up recently-announced partnerships with OpenAI (on customer experience) and Ericsson, Nokia, and NVIDIA (on AI in the radio access network). He will report into Ellen Sulcs, T-Mobile’s Senior Director of Data & AI, in the role. Farooq worked at the operator between 2018 and 2021, before joining DocuSign as Head of Product Data Science.
Elsewhere around Deutsche Telekom…
Rail mega-project on track
- Group: Beyond the Atlantic Hub investment referenced above, DTCP has made an injection of funding into Dexory, a UK-based robotics and data intelligence player that focuses on logistics clients. DTCP led the business’ Series-B round, which was said to have raised $80m (in equity and debt), and is placing Growth Equity Partner Michael Rager on its Board of Directors. Dexory wants to use the cash to expand its US business.
- Germany: Equativ, a France-based AdTech player and DT investment and partner, has acquired Kamino Retail, another French business, to expand into on-site retail media. It said the deal will enhance its “retail media capabilities” and “expand upon the company’s recent merger with Sharethrough, which created one of the largest global independent ad marketplaces”. Equativ is an investment of DT venture capital arm T.Capital and has been working with Telekom Deutschland (TDE) to add targeted advertising capability into the MagentaTV pay-TV platform (Deutsche Telekomwatch, #134).
- TDE has talked up the results of a “three-digit million” euro collaboration with rail operator Deutsche Bahn on mobile coverage improvement along train lines. First formed in 2021, targeting delivery of faster and broader connectivity across Germany’s inter-city routes (Deutsche Telekomwatch, #106), the tie-up is said by TDE to have involved an upgrade of 1,900 cell sites and the addition of a further 470 new masts, as well as the use of some fresh tech such as “lasered windows” to improve in-train signals. The NatCo said the two organisations’ goals had been achieved two years faster than originally agreed. Headline outcomes include delivery of: 200Mbps+ connections across 99% of Deutsche Bahn’s main routes, spanning 7,800km of lines (up twelve percentage points); 300Mbps+ on 95% of these routes (+12pp); 200Mbps+ on 94% of high-traffic routes (+21pp); and 100Mbps+ on 96% of secondary routes (+13pp).
- Europe: Magyar Telekom has begun offering SELEKT, the streaming service of AMC Networks International Central and Northern Europe, through its Telekom TV platform. The “strategic partnership” is said to have brought SELEKT into Hungary for the first time, offering Telekom TV users a range of movies, series, sports, lifestyle, and children’s programming. Magyar Telekom also has content tie-ups in place on Netflix and RTL+, as well as carrying its own streaming service TV GO.
- USA: T-Mobile US (TMUS) and satcomms partner SpaceX have received special dispensation to debut their high-profile upcoming direct-to-cell service for areas affected by Hurricane Helene. An announcement by SpaceX said the FCC had cleared it to switch on the system to support the emergency response effort, and that it had since begun using it to distribute alerts to mobile users in North Carolina. It was also considering a test of messaging capabilities in the same state. The move comes with TMUS and SpaceX preparing to launch a fuller Coverage Above & Beyond offering, based on their partnership, by the end of 2024.
Upcoming…
Stay tuned in the coming days for our coverage of NetworkX in Paris, which began today, and DT’s Capital Markets Day, scheduled for 10–11 October.
Topics
- AI (artificial intelligence, machine learning)
- Cloud
- Cybersecurity
- Deutsche Bahn
- Deutsche Glasfaser
- Deutsche Telekom Group (DTAG)
- Digital transformation
- Digital Transformation Capital Partners (DTCP)
- Europe
- Fibre (FTTC/FTTP)
- Germany
- Magyar Telekom (Hungary)
- Nokia
- North America
- NVIDIA
- RAN (radio access network)
- Security
- SpaceX
- Steffen Roos
- TelcoTitans Premium Content
- Telekom Deutschland (TDE)
- T-Mobile US (DTAG)
- T-Systems
- USA
- Weekly Briefings
- Wholesale sales