Deutsche Telekom expects to invest 12.5 billion euros in fiber optic and mobile networks in 2018

Recently, Deutsche Telekom announced the results of its fiscal year 2017 revealed that it will relax capital expenditures, investing 12.5 billion euros ($15.4 billion) this year, higher than the 12.1 billion euros ($14.9 billion) in 2017 to build fiber optic and mobile networks. With a view to successfully launching the next generation of 5G services in 2020. Let's take a look at the related content with the network communication Xiaobian.

Due to increasing political and competitive pressures, the German operator had to commit to increasing investment in all-fiber networks. Deutsche Telekom promises to increase Germany's fiber penetration rate (copper and fiber hybrid network) from 71% in 2017 to 80% this year. The short-term goal is to ensure 18 million German households (about 45% of the national total) by the end of the year. Can access 250Mbit/s service. However, most connections will be made through a technology called Supervectoring, which uses a copper connection instead of an all-fiber network to boost the signal in the last mile.

Deutsche Telekom previously promised to increase all-fiber costs starting in 2019. The operator plans to connect 80% of the German business district to the fiber optic network by the beginning of 2020 and said it will provide more details on "continuous high investment to achieve the Gigabit target" in May.

The backhaul connection (between the base station and the core network) and the forward connection (between the dispersed RAN networks) of the 5G mobile network will greatly depend on the fiber. In order to build a faster 5G mobile network, operators will need the most advanced fixed line infrastructure. This year, Deutsche Telekom said it will deploy 60,000 kilometers of fiber in Germany, up from 40,000 kilometers in 2017.

Despite this, the mobile network itself requires additional expenses. An infrastructure subsidiary called Deutsche Funkturm (DFMG), led by former CTO Bruno Jacobfeuerborn, is working on building the cellular base stations needed for 5G. Deutsche Telekom currently has approximately 28,000 towers in Germany. The operator has previously said that with the introduction of 5G technology in 2020, the number may double. Deutsche Telekom said that between 2014 and 2017, it will add about 500 new cellular base stations per year; in the next medium term, DFMG will increase the number to 2,000.

After France's Orange revealed that it will increase its investment this year, Deutsche Telekom's good news may provide some comfort to equipment suppliers who have recently complained about major customers' cuts in capital expenditures. However, Orange also said that its capital expenditure will begin to decline after 2019, while Deutsche Telekom expects spending in 2019 to “slightly decline”.