Press Releases Telefónica Germany

On the 30th anniversary of the German unification, Telefónica Germany / O₂ enters the 5G era. In cooperation with the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder, the CEO of the Munich-based company Telefónica Deutschland / O₂ switches on the 5G network of O₂. "We are starting off the data turbo for digitization from Bavaria, for Germany", said Markus Haas at the switch-on ceremony.

On October 3, O₂ will launch the 5G network in the five largest German cities Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt and Cologne. This way the core brand of Telefónica Germany sets a sign for digital progress and mobile freedom in a symbolic virtual act on the 30th anniversary of German reunification. The same also applies to the new mobile communications standard: O₂ democratizes high-tech. By offering the best value-for-money 5G proposition, O₂ will open up access to the 5G experience to all consumers. O₂ private customers will enter the 5G era with the commercial marketing of the offers on 6 October. They can use 5G from day one at no extra charge. Attractive offers for O₂ business customers will follow soon. They will all experience completely new dimensions of digitalisation with O₂ in the future.

Telefónica Deutschland / O₂ has broken the 20,000 mark for 4G coverage of mobile phone sites with its current network expansion offensive. Since the beginning of the year, the network operator has set up around 4,000 4G stations to provide numerous towns and districts with mobile O₂ high-speed networks for the first time. In addition, more than 2,000 additional 4G stations are in operation at existing locations to provide more capacity and higher surfing speeds for mobile data use. Thus, O₂ network engineers have improved the 4G mobile coverage for over 5.5 million people in the O₂ network since the beginning of the year. The 4G mobile communications standard enables O₂ customers to use all digital applications even when they are on the move.

Today, the car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz Cars put one of the world's most modern car production facilities into operation - an all-digital, flexible and green factory - the "Factory 56". A core element of the new, fully networked production facility in Sindelfingen will be the 5G campus network that Telefónica Deutschland / O₂ has built for Mercedes-Benz Cars in cooperation with network equipment supplier Ericsson. The fifth generation of mobile communications will connect machines and systems intelligently, securely, wirelessly and in real time. In future, the network will be used in ongoing automobile production.

The O₂ stores achieved an outstanding result in this year's connect Shoptest. The stores of the core brand of Telefónica Germany not only won the test once again, they also significantly extended their lead over the competition and were the only ones to achieve the overall rating 'Very good'. O₂ also dominates in the individual evaluations - 14 of the 25 O₂ stores tested received the rating 'Outstanding' or 'Very Good'. For the first time in the long history of the connect store test, an O₂ store even achieved almost the perfect score with 499 of the maximum possible 500 points.

Telefónica Germany / O₂ is the first German network operator to build its 5G core network as well as crucial 5G network functions for new industry solutions in the cloud. Via the cloud-based 5G core network, new industry solutions can be developed faster, production and logistics processes can be automated even more and applications implemented in real-time (edge computing). In an industrial use case proof of concept, Telefónica Germany / O₂ will use Amazon Web Services (AWS) and its proven cloud infrastructure to virtualize its 5G core. In addition, the company is relying on 5G core and orchestration components from the Swedish telecommunications supplier Ericsson.

Telecommunications provider Telefónica Deutschland and Tech Mahindra Ltd, a leading provider of digital transformation, consulting and business re-engineering services and solutions, have agreed on a strategic cooperation in the network and services operations segment.

Telefónica Germany wants to build on the knowledge gained during the COVID-19 special situation and anchor positive changes for the future. To this end, the company presented the corresponding direction to its approximately 8,500 employees on August 10, 2020. With "5 Bold Moves" - five decisive steps - the cooperation is to be aligned to the digital working world of tomorrow: Working Anywhere, Working Anytime, Outcome-based Leadership, Digital by Default and 70% Less Travel.

Telefónica Deutschland / O₂ has had a robust first half-year against the background of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

July 21, 1995 marks the birth of today's Telefónica Deutschland / O₂. 25 years ago, the predecessor company VIAG Interkom became the 4th mobile network operator. Today, the company connects more than 42 million people in mobile communications alone. Another more than 2 million via the fixed network. And a steadily growing number of machines. With increasing digitalization, the company will in future have an even greater impact on all areas of life and work.

Telefónica Deutschland / O₂ is currently equipping 350 mobile phone sites per week with smart meters for digital power metering to further increase the CO₂ efficiency of the O₂ network. In total, a good 7,500 locations currently have smart meters. The equipment of 27,000 sites is planned by the end of 2021. Telefónica Deutschland expects considerable electricity and CO₂ savings through this digitalization measure.

O₂ is more popular than ever with its dealers. This is shown by the results of the latest reader survey conducted by Telecom Handel, the trade magazine for telecommunications. The readers of the renowned Munich trade magazine, predominantly telecommunications retailers from all over Germany, voted O₂ the best mobile phone provider of the year. The mobile phone brand is thus continuing its series of successes in retail.

The Corona crisis has once again shown how important a well-functioning digital infrastructure is for maintaining public life. Our networks are far better than their reputation - they have passed the stress test! This was made clear again today by the federal government, the states, local authorities and the network operators in their joint declaration on the occasion of the second mobile communications summit under the leadership of Federal Minister Andreas Scheuer.

Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG has signed an agreement with Telxius Telecom S.A. (Telxius) on the spin-off and sale of its passive infrastructure. Approximately 10,100 mobile sites, which are mostly situated on rooftops, will be transferred to the infrastructure company at a purchase price of 1.5 billion euros. The active radio technology at the transferred sites will remain the property of Telefónica Deutschland and will continue to be used to operate the mobile communications network.

In the fight against the coronavirus, Telefónica Deutschland is supporting an international research association to develop therapies and vaccinations. The telecommunications provider is providing a data centre for the volunteer computing project folding@home.

Telefónica Deutschland is building the o2 mobile network of the future. For the particularly security-relevant 5G core network, the company is relying on a European provider in the form of the Swedish telecommunications supplier Ericsson. With this groundbreaking decision, the company is setting the course for a secure, digital network for the country in the coming 5G era.

O₂ and comdirect bank AG will cooperate in O₂ Banking in future. Together, the partners will comprehensively modernise the mobile banking offer for their customers. With comdirect, O₂, the core brand of Telefónica Deutschland, has won one of the leading online banks in Germany for o2 Banking. The multiple award-winning bank stands for innovative strength, a powerful technological platform and high quality customer service.

Telefónica Deutschland has successfully held its first virtual Annual General Meeting. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, shareholders were able to resolve as planned agenda items such as the payment of the dividend for 2019 and the Supervisory Board election.

Telefónica Deutschland with its core brand O₂ has largely achieved the Corporate Responsibility (CR) targets set in 2016 with the Responsible Business Plan 2020 one year earlier than originally planned. The target of reducing Co2 emissions by 11 percent compared with 2015 was significantly exceeded with a reduction of 28.5 percent by the end of 2019. While data volumes rose by 106% by the end of 2019 compared to 2015, energy consumption fell by 15%. Overall, this means a reduction in energy consumption per data volume of 56.1%. The company has been sourcing 100% of its electricity from renewable sources since 2016.

Telefónica Deutschland has made a good start to the year 2020. The company grew more strongly than in previous quarters in terms of both revenue and earnings. In the first three months, revenue rose by 3.8 percent to 1.85 billion euros, while adjusted operating income (OIBDA) increased by 1.6 percent to 532 million euros.

From next Monday, 20 April 2020, O₂ will be opening its shops for customers again - the only exceptions are O₂ shops in Bavaria and Thuringia. In these two federal states, the O₂ shops will open one week later due to the orders of the state governments. This means that from 20 April in 14 federal states and from 27 April throughout Germany, O₂ will once again offer personal advice in the O₂ Shops during the known opening hours.

The current challenges around the corona topic influence the private and professional life of millions of people. Many customers are at home, working from their home office, looking after their children or are in contact with their schools and universities via the Internet. The O₂ network has a very special role to play in meeting people's increased need for information and communication in these times. More than ever, we are dependent on mobile networking.

The Supervisory Board of Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG today elected Peter Löscher as the new Chairman of the Supervisory Board. He has been a member of the company's Supervisory Board since April 1, 2020 by court appointment.

In the current exceptional situation due to corona, the discussion about mobility analyses based on mobile radio data has gained momentum again. The question is whether and how these analyses can help to contain the corona virus.

The O₂ brand is the new partner of "Germany against Corona". With its "All for All" campaign, the initiative appeals to every individual to maintain the necessary safety distance in public spaces. At the same time, it wants to spread confidence and promote cohesion.