30 Jan 09
DLD – Mobile Communication
René Obermann (CEO Deutsche Telekom) and Martin Varsavsky (Serial Entrepreneur and CEO Fon) had a public conversation on mobile communications. I tried to capture some of the things they said. Below you can find my notes.
- Mobile business is still in good shape with old business model
- Telekom is part of solution to global crisis, makes huges investements: cover country in broadband (VDSL, fibre optics etc.)
- mobile in the US, a lot of flatrate products -> why not in germany? iPhone, Android, mutual change of information, requires more flat, thus Germany will adapt. But lesson learned is that it is all about innovation to change these things
- US only 4 companies run entire mobile business, Europe is all clutter not consumer friendly, tough : Europe is learning its lesson very fast
- liquidity reserves with Deutsche Telekom are very high, M&A still possible
- Acquisitions: 6-7 billion -> Orange netherlands, Greece
- Very difficult to grow in Germany, markets are saturated
- Problem at Fon is Pound revenues: € is a great thing ;-) Hope that the € stays a strong currency. DT on the other hand can’t hedge currencies, profits are kept in distinct countries
- Roaming: Industry is changing, but not so quickly (first example is paying by the minute). It’s just a matter of time.
- Varsavsky: Zuckerberg wants to connect people – is Facebook a new telecom operator? Obermann: Could be the next way to communicate!
- DT can be a great partner to many companies, but it is not tied to simply one. Thus they would never take over a social network.
- Personal part: Entrepreneur and Company very difficult initially, but DT has changed and is looking for young talented Entrepreneurial spirited people
- Mobile Payments : Will be implemented, but only for small money
- Future of video: Next years high increase in demand, very tough to cover everything with mobile, has to be hybrid mobile broadband and fibre optics
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