Deutsche Telekom CEO Touts 5G Mobile Will Be Revolution for Services

Fifth generation of wireless technology will be a “revolution“ for the telecom industry, spurring new services and revenue models, said Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Hoettges, according to Bloomberg.

The German former phone monopoly will be able to monetize 5G network investments by providing dedicated software platforms to customers in industries from auto to health care and will benefit from revenue-sharing agreements, Hoettges said. He cited a sensor-based parking system in Hamburg, where DT gets a cut of sales, as an example.

“We will not be selling data packages alone, we are participating in the solution space,“ Hoettges said on the sidelines of the DLD tech conference in Munich. “Our ecosystem is changing into a model where we participate on the revenue.“

DT is among carriers exploring new lines of business to recoup the massive 5G investments needed to deliver the accelerated, low-latency mobile networks increasingly required by the billions of connected devices that make up IoT. The push has intensified with early commercial deployment of 5G technologies among some in the industry targeted for next year.

Hoettges said he sees the average person owning six devices hooked to the internet by 2020 and millions of electronic SIM cards making it into cars, factories and machines across Germany. Separately, the CEO also said it’s key that Europe’s biggest economy gets a new government “as soon as possible“ that supports the digital industry so that DT and its European peers can lead in the IoT space as they compete with Chinese and U.S. rivals.