Deutsche Telekom AG is increasingly expanding its activities abroad. It has foreign subsidiaries of its own in the world’s major metropolises as well as offices in key cities of the increasingly important Asian market. Deutsche Telekom AG has entered into alliances with strong foreign partners such as France Telecom (”Atlas”) and Sprint (”Global One”) and has cooperation arrangements in Eastern Europe as well: Together with Ameritech, it has a 67 percent interest in the Hungarian telephone company MATAV, and through its subsidiary DeTeMobil it operates mobile telephony networks in the Czech Republic, Poland and Ukraine.

Several consortia are currently developing activities of their own in the telecommunications sector in competition with Deutsche Telekom AG. The most important competitors are O.tel.o (with RWE and VEBA) and Arcor (Mannesmann and Deutsche Bahn). Both consortia have already received the licenses required for operation of networks as of 1 January 1 998. These consortia have already been offering their services to companies and institutions since 1996, providing global connections from branch offices and installation of telephone systems. As of 1 January 1998, the consortia will offer their services to private individuals as well.