Telekom and O2 depend on Vodafone

Cellular

In terms of service revenue in mobile communications, Telefónica is no longer in last place in Germany, but Vodafone.

(Photo: dpa)

Dusseldorf With Vodafone, the last of the three mobile network operators in Germany presented its figures for the past quarter on Tuesday. This results in a new ranking: Measured against the service revenues in mobile communications, which are particularly important for the companies, Telekom is clearly in first place with 1.6 billion euros. This is followed by Telefónica (brand O2) with 1.42 billion euros and Vodafone in third place with 1.29 billion euros.

The balance of power on the German mobile communications market has shifted: The number two for years, Vodafone, has lost touch with its competitors. The Deutsche Telekom, but also the rival Telefónica, hurry away.

The gap between Vodafone and its rivals has recently become even greater. In the past quarter, the growth in service revenues in mobile communications at Vodafone was only 0.8 percent, while at Telekom they grew by two percent and at Telefónica by as much as 4.4 percent.

Telefónica’s long-term poor network quality had slowed growth for a long time. However, the operator’s O2 network has been significantly improved in recent years. The company is certified by several network tests.

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In terms of quality, however, Telefónica remains behind Telekom and Vodafone. The test by the provider Umlaut together with the magazine “Connect”, which is particularly respected in the industry, recently awarded all three networks in Germany a “very good” rating. But the Telekom network was right at the front, ahead of Vodafone and O2.

1 & 1 as a sales driver for Telefónica

According to industry experts, the most important reason for the shift in sales is less with Vodafone or Telefónica themselves, but with the mobile communications brand 1 & 1 of the United Internet group. The company does not yet have its own mobile network, but rents the infrastructure from other providers. In the recently presented quarterly figures, 1 & 1 showed eleven million mobile phone customers alone.

1 & 1 has been migrating customers from the Vodafone network to the Telefónica network since 2019. From 1 & 1’s point of view, Telefónica offers better conditions. At the beginning of the migration, 1 & 1 had around ten million customers, around eight million of them on the Telefónica network and two million on the Vodafone network.

The group did not want to provide a current status of the customer distribution upon request. The migration of customers is still ongoing, said a company spokeswoman.

One thing is clear: this shift in customers costs Vodafone sales and generates Telefónica sales. And the process continues. The introduction of the new 5G mobile communications standard promises network operators further growth. All three providers advertise the technology with large campaigns. But there is still a lack of applications to take advantage of the new possibilities of 5G.

More: Fiber optic expansion: Telekom concludes deal with infrastructure investor IFM.

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