Expanding broadband networks

Our everyday lives are no longer conceivable without the Internet, for sending e-mails and photos, downloading music or searching for information, at work as well as during our free time. This makes it all the more vital that all people and all business organizations have the same opportunities to access the digital Net.

Deutsche Telekom is pushing ahead with the expansion of ultra-fast broadband connections, with activities that are not restricted to Germany. Under its "More broadband for everyone" motto, Deutsche Telekom is set to invest EUR 100 million again this year, the same figure as in the two preceding years, to eliminate the last white spots on the DSL map.

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Deutsche Telekom is pushing ahead with the expansion of ultra-fast broadband connections.

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Deutsche Telekom is pushing ahead with the expansion of ultra-fast broadband connections.

Connecting rural areas
At present, around 96 percent of Germany's households can receive a broadband service. People in its big cities have already taken ultra-fast Internet for granted for a long time. However, there are still municipalities – particularly in rural, more sparsely inhabited regions – without an adequate network infrastructure. Deutsche Telekom is the only provider in Germany that enters into cooperations with these small towns and villages with the aim of giving them access to modern broadband networks. 300 of these cooperations were established in 2008 alone. In fact, Deutsche Telekom was able to provide the service to another 100 municipalities even without their participation.

In places where there has been no possibility of a DSL linkup via the cable network to date, Deutsche Telekom is looking for alternative solutions. One possibility is broadband access via satellite. Customers can use the same satellite system via which they receive their TV programs to surf the Net at high speed. Moreover, pilot projects have shown that microwave links may also be a suitable alternative under certain conditions. Ratzenried, a village with 1,200 inhabitants located in the foothills of the Alps, is one example where a DSL mast provides a fast Internet service at rates of over 16 megabits per second. Over 225 households in Ratzenried now benefit from this service - a good many more than originally anticipated.

Online on the move
Mobile broadband networks are rapidly gaining importance. Increasingly, Internet-capable mobile handsets offer functions that require fast data transmission. In addition, the mobile broadband network links regions to the high-speed Internet where upgrading the cable network is not a viable option.

Since the start of 2008, T-Mobile is the only provider in Germany to offer nationwide data transmission with EDGE technology at up to four times the speed of ISDN. What's more, the ultra-fast HSDPA/HSUPA technology is available throughout the UMTS network. This ensures that T-Mobile customers can surf the Internet or work on the intranet just as conveniently while on the move as they do with fixed-network DSL. T-Mobile is also working intensively on the network of the future, NGMN or Next Generation Mobile Network, so that it can continue to offer its customers the best network performance and quality in the future.

Cosmote, a Deutsche Telekom subsidiary, is considered a pioneer in the field of mobile broadband – and not only in Greece. Cosmote was one of the first companies in Europe that was able to offer ultra-fast data transfer via mobile handsets on the basis of HSDPA technology. In the meantime, the mobile broadband network can serve 85 percent of the Greek population. Line owners throughout the country can therefore use a mobile broadband line wherever they live, work and study.