Deutsche Telekom (DTE.DE) on Friday revealed its €30 billion ($39 billion) plan to battle ongoing competitive threats from cable operators in Germany and improve its last-mile wireline and Long Term Evolution (LTE)-based wireless networks.
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Obermann (Image source: DT) |
Leveraging a mix of VDSL2 and LTE wireless technology, the service provider said part of the increased capital expenditure is intended to help compensate for the decline in revenues from traditional fixed network services due to strong cable competition in its homeland.
"Hesitation now means playing catch-up later. We are investing in the future--with resolve and a clear strategy," said Rene Obermann, DT's CEO and chairman, in a statement. "The investment plans we have presented today will lay the foundation for future growth, and it is the people in Germany in particular who will benefit more than ever from the modern infrastructure."
On the wireline side, the German provider plans to invest about €6 billion ($7.7 billion) to roll out VDSL2 with vectoring over a Fiber to the Curb (FTTC) architecture. By using a mix of VDSL2 and vectoring, DT said it would be able to deliver up to 100 Mbps download speeds over existing copper in Germany.
As seen with a growing host of other telcos deploying VDSL2 in Europe and the United States, DT revealed in earlier reports that its FTTC initiative will include vectoring technology. Vectoring helps service providers mitigate noise and crosstalk issues on existing copper lines to up the speeds on existing copper wiring.
Previously, Obermann said DT plans to deliver vectored DSL to 24 million customers by 2016.
In addition, the telco said it is developing a hybrid wireline/wireless service that is expected to increase bandwidth to 200/90 Mbps.
Europe has become a hotbed for VDSL2 and vectoring lately, as more traditional wireline operators figure out ways to quickly up their broadband speeds economically. Besides DT, other European telcos including Belgacom, OTE, TDC Denmark and Telekom Austria A1 are all in one stage or another of deploying a mix of VDSL2 with vectoring in their serving areas.
For more:
- TeleGeography has this article
- Reuters has this article
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