Deutsche Telekom
More info
- Released
- 1995
- Type
- Telecoms operator
- Owner
- Partly the German state
- Website
- telekom.com
Europe's largest telecoms operator, grown out of the old German postal monopoly and now best known for its magenta colour and its American subsidiary.
Deutsche Telekom was carved out of Deutsche Bundespost when Germany's telecoms market was deregulated in 1995, and floated the following year. The German state still holds a large minority stake, directly and through the KfW development bank.
The group runs mobile networks under the T-Mobile brand across several countries; the real profit engine turned out to be its subsidiary T-Mobile US, which after the 2020 merger with Sprint challenges Verizon and AT&T for the top spot. Its magenta is guarded so fiercely that the company has sued everyone from banks to bloggers for using the shade.