TELECOMMUNICATIONS/GERMANY: T-MOBILE PLANNING TO LAUNCH UMTS AT END OF 2002 OR EARLY 2003.

PositionCompany Business and Marketing

Deutsche Telekom has acquired UMTS licences in Germany, the United Kingdom, Austria, the Netherlands and Poland. Mr Ricke revealed that at the end of February, T-Mobile (D1 network) had 20.6 million subscribers in Germany, putting Deutsche Telekom's subsidiary neck and neck with Vodafone (Mannesmann D2 network). By the end of the year, T-Mobile is aiming to get a further 4.5 to 5 million new subscribers to its D1 network, giving it a 70% market share in Germany, explained Rene Obermann of T-Mobile's board. Negotiations over co-operation with the other four or five operators which hold UMTS licences in Germany will take place "over the next few months", he added.Viag Interkom, MobilCom, Telef[cent]nica, E-Plus and T-Mobile recently announced that they were ready to consider co-operating in the huge investments necessary to build UMTS networks in Germany. Recent forecasts predict that it will cost each operator around Euro 5 billion to set up such a new multimedia mobile phone network but by working with other operators, it is estimated that savings of between 20 and 40% could be made on the cost of building the network. Most of the operators were forced to take out huge loans in order to buy their UMTS licences.The sixth operator, Mannesmann Mobilfunk, (subsidiary of the UK giant Vodafone) is keeping its options open. It is not yet prepared to consider co-operating in building third generation mobile phone networks. "There are too many...

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