Telekom

Deutsche Telekom Aims to Save 2.5 Billion Euros With A.I.

co-produced by AI05. October 2026, 07:39

Telekom Logo, Konzernzentrale in Bonn. © Deutsche Telekom, Foto: Norbert Ittermann

The chatbot takes over the hotline, the A.I. agent runs the network: Deutsche Telekom wants to use artificial intelligence to cut about 2.5 billion euros in indirect costs by 2030, compared with 2023. The company announced the target at its A.I. Investor Day in Bonn. At the same time, A.I. is meant to become a growth business and to improve quality in the network and in customer service.

“A.I. is fundamentally transforming Deutsche Telekom,” said Tim Höttges, the company’s chief executive. “What matters most is that technology delivers measurable value, for our customers and for our company.”

Where Telekom Wants to Save

Telekom is using A.I. where large volumes of routine work pile up: in network operations, customer service, software development and administration. The targets and first results at a glance:

Savings: By 2027, A.I. and automation are expected to deliver gross savings of about 1.1 billion euros outside the United States compared with 2023, rising to about 2.5 billion euros in indirect costs by 2030. The 1.1 billion euros do not yet account for the cost of using A.I. itself, the so-called token costs.
Hotline: The chatbot “Frag Magenta” handled about 2.6 million customer service calls in the first half of the year alone.
United States: At T-Mobile US, customer service calls have dropped by 55 percent, and A.I. agents now handle 40 percent of all customer contacts.
Network: The “RAN Guardian Agent” detects impending congestion on the mobile network, for example during large events. According to Telekom, the response time has fallen from several hours to about one minute.
Complaints: When new connections are set up, A.I. is meant to spot problems before they turn into complaints. Initial use cases show 30 percent fewer complaints.

Part of the savings is to be reinvested in the company’s digital transformation and in faster fiber-optic rollout in Germany.

Sovereign A.I. as a Business

On the revenue side, Telekom is betting mainly on Europe’s demand for sovereign A.I. Companies and public institutions want to use A.I. for sensitive tasks without giving up control over their data. The centerpiece is the Industrial AI Cloud in Munich, where companies can run industrial simulations and A.I.-powered processes. Telekom is also building a platform that lets small and medium-sized businesses automate recurring tasks, for example in customer service or logistics.

This year, Telekom expects about 250 million euros in A.I.-related revenue from business customers outside the United States, rising to about 800 million euros by 2030. Consumers are meant to pay, too: The Magenta AI Assistant translates mobile phone calls in real time, answers questions and summarizes content, without an extra app or a new device. Telekom sees this as an opportunity for new services and rate plans.

Employees as A.I. Supervisors

Under the motto “AI for All,” Telekom is giving its staff tools such as its in-house AskT, ChatGPT Enterprise and Microsoft Copilot. More than 100,000 employees have already been trained in using A.I. Going forward, they are meant to set goals, review results and keep responsibility for decisions while A.I. does the work. “We’re just getting started,” Mr. Höttges said.

Telekom has not said how many jobs automation will cost. At T-Mobile US, where A.I. agents already handle a large share of customer service, a parallel restructuring will eliminate about 4,700 positions, although the company attributes it to leaner structures and the removal of duplicate roles.

A.I. as a Threat to the Core Business

An analysis by Bank of America shows that A.I. brings telecom companies risks as well as opportunities. The analysts see advantages in sales and customer retention, for example through personalized offers. At the same time, A.I. agents make it easier for customers to compare plans and switch providers. There are already reports of A.I. agents researching mobile packages and negotiating better terms with providers. According to BofA, however, Deutsche Telekom is among the operators best positioned to withstand this pricing pressure.

Rivals are betting on A.I. as well, in some cases together with Telekom. With SoftBank and three other network operators, the Bonn-based company founded the joint venture Syntelligence, which develops A.I. solutions specifically for the telecom industry, starting with protection against spam calls.