Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

[Interpreted] Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Ulrich Lehner. In my capacity as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Telekom AG, I hereby open this year's shareholder meeting and will chair this meeting in line with the articles of incorporation. On behalf of the Supervisory Board and the Board of Management, may I extend a warm welcome to you, the shareholders, the shareholder representatives and all other interested members of the audience who are following today's shareholders' meeting online. Unfortunately, I'm once again unable to welcome you personally here in Bonn to our shareholders' meeting this year. I'm sorry. But last year, we also experienced this type of shareholders' meeting. It's totally different than our -- than the usual type of meeting we have. As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a meeting with personal attendance is still out of the question. Since we wish to hold today's ordinary shareholders meeting safely, we have decided to make use of the legislation that lawmakers have instituted for 2021 as well and convene this meeting in a virtual space without the physical presence of shareholders and their proxies. Given that we still need to observe social distancing, the number of participants here at Deutsche Telekom AG's headquarters, has also been reduced again. Present here today are the Chairman of the Board of Management, Tim Hottges; and the CFO, Dr. Christian Illek. Welcome, gentlemen. The remaining members of the Board of Management are not physically present. They are all taking part in the meeting via a separate audio/video link. Similarly, apart from me, all members of the Supervisory Board, with the exception of myself, are following the meeting via a separate audio/video link. If necessary, the members of the Board of Management and Supervisory Board who are not attending in person can communicate at any time with me, the intending members of the Board of Management or with the notary public. And I also would like to welcome Dr. Christoph Neuhaus, who is sitting beside me and as a notary public, has been retained to keep the minutes of the shareholders' meeting. And finally, I would also like to welcome the proxyholders appointed by the company who are present here in Bonn. On behalf of all the members of the governing institutions, I would like to also welcome everybody who is present at headquarters in Bonn and thank them for being here to make this possible like they have been doing for many years now. For the first time at the shareholders' meeting, I would like to welcome Ms. Leroy, who is in charge of the Board of Management's Europe department as a new member of the Board of Management. We'll discuss additional changes in the composition of the Board of Management and Supervisory Board later in my explanatory notes and information on the Supervisory Board report. Let's turn to the formalities for today's shareholders' meeting. I hereby establish that the shareholders' meeting has been convened according to the law and the articles of incorporation in due form and in due time through announcement in the Federal Gazette dated February 26, 2021, and all other communications and publications required in connection with the shareholders' meeting have also been made available in due form and time. The invitation to the shareholders' meeting and all of the documents to be made available to shareholders in connection with the shareholders' meeting can be found on the company's website. The special shareholders' meeting website has the address www.telekom.com/hv. This is the site which you also use to access this Internet transmission. And I hope things will go smoothly there. Now I come to an amendment to the agenda. The Deutsche Schutzvereinigung für Wertpapierbesitz e.V., in short, DSW, acting on behalf of and by proxy for BayernInvest Kapitalverwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, proposes an addition to the agenda. The addition of Item 11 to the agenda, together with the motion for a resolution proposed by the applicant in this connection as well as a motion for resolution and a statement by the board of Management of Deutsche Telekom AG, were published in the Federal Gazette from March 3, 2021. All other notifications and publications required in this regard have also been made in due form and time. These documents can also be found on the company's website. Countermotions filed by shareholders have been published together with all required information on our company website where they can still be examined and perused. Countermotions are deemed to be submitted in today's shareholders' meeting when the shareholder who submits the countermotion has been properly legitimated and registered for the shareholders' meeting. Countermotions accordingly deemed to have been submitted are accessible via the website for the shareholders' meeting at the Internet address www.telekom.com/hv and are marked accordingly there. Insofar as these do not amount to rejection of a proposal by the management, they will be put to vote today if they are not resolved by proposals by the management previously put to vote being adopted with the necessary majority. Nominations have not been submitted today. For the sake of proper order, countermotions are available here on-site as are all other documents to be displayed at the shareholders' meeting as required by law. I would also establish that the convocation of today's ordinary shareholders' meeting as a virtual meeting, with the shareholders' rights as communicated in the convocation, is based on the decisions taken by the Board of Management with the approval of the Supervisory Board, in accordance with Section 1, paragraphs 1, 2 and 6 of the applicable act on the measures in company, cooperative, association, foundation and condominium law to combat the mitigation of the effects of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The act also provides for the possibility for Supervisory Board members to participate in this meeting via audio/video link. Today's shareholders' meeting is being broadcast in full on the Internet via audio/video link for the public based on a corresponding resolution adopted by the Board of Management. These opening remarks as well as the speech of the CEO, Mr. Hottges, and other statements will also be available online later on. In addition, we are recording the opening remarks and the report by the Board of Management and will make these available to interested media subsequently. Please note that audio or video recordings of the meeting are prohibited. Today, the shareholders who are duly registered for the shareholders' meeting or their proxies can use password-protected Internet dialogue to perform postal or online voting, have the voting rights exercised by the company appointed proxies, in line with the voting instructions issued, grant proxy authorization or sub-authorization to a third-party or raise an objection to a resolution of the shareholders' meeting. Any postal or online votes as well as proxy authorizations or voting instructions for proxyholders as appointed by the company, may be cast or issued or amended or withdrawn via the password-protected Internet dialogue until voting commences. Objections to a resolution taken by the shareholders' meeting may be submitted via the password-protected Internet dialogue before the meeting ends. Declarations will be handed over to the notary public, and we'll have a certain amount of time allotted towards the end of the event. The other options described in the notice of convocation published in the Federal Gazette remain unaffected. This applies in particular to the possibility of changing or revoking postal or online votes or proxy authorizations and instructions to the proxyholders appointed by the company outside the password-protected Internet dialogue. Given that the proxyholders appointed by the company are also here in person today, this shareholders' meeting has a formal attendance area. Today, this is the meeting we are in, namely H0.20 at Deutsche Telekom's headquarters in Bonn. The list of participants, ladies and gentlemen, which means the register of shareholders who are present or are represented and of shareholder representatives, is being compiled as we speak. Once the register has been completed, it will be made available here, and I will then inform you of the official attendance figure and of the number of postal or online votes that have been received so far. Any changes to the attendance figures that may be occasioned by issuing or withdrawing proxies to the company appointed proxyholders will be reflected in regular amendments to the list of participants, which will also be made available here. I shall also respectively inform you about the updated attendance figures from a legal perspective as well as the current number of postal or online votes received by such time. Shareholders who have duly registered for the shareholders' meeting or their proxyholders can access information from the list of participants and on attendance during the shareholders' meeting via our password protected Internet dialogue. Before we commence the meeting proper, let me briefly outline the next few steps. After the report by the Board of Management and the verbal explanation of the report by the Supervisory Board, the Board of Management will answer the questions submitted via the password-protected Internet dialogue by midnight, March 30, 2021. To the extent that questions are to be answered by the Supervisory Board, I will answer these questions in agreement with the Board of Management, which will adopt my answers as its own. After answering the questions, I will explain the voting procedure, call out the proposed resolutions and provide a few more notes and additional information. You will then have approximately 5 minutes to cast, change or revoke postal or online votes or proxy authorizations and instructions to company appointed proxyholders in respect of the motions for resolution called. You can use the password-protected Internet dialogue for this purpose. Then the votes will be cast by the proxyholders appointed by the company who are here on site. When determining the result of the vote. The yes and no votes cast by postal or online means will be included. These were the necessary organizational details. We now commence with the agenda. Item 1 is as follows: Submissions to the shareholders' meeting pursuant to Article 176, section 1, sentence 1 of the German Stock Corporation Act. Under this item, the annual financial statements, the consolidated financial statements, the combined management report and group management report as well as Supervisory Board report are presented. All documents to be submitted to this shareholders' meeting have been available for perusal on our website since the meeting was convened and will remain so for the duration of the meeting. The same applies to the articles of incorporation. The documents provided are also available for perusal here on site. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, I now give the floor to the Chairman of the Board of Management, Mr. Hottges, for his report. Mr. Hottges, you have the floor. [Presentation]

[Interpreted] So you're seeing me here in the living room, Deutsche Telekom. I welcome you to our second virtual shareholders' meeting. Unfortunately, it's not in person. I really miss this direct dialogue with you, but I hope that you have made it through these difficult times in good shape so far. We've learned how important digital communications is. We've also learned how important telecom being involved is, how well our networks have functioned. And I must say, in 2020, our colleagues had to do a lot. There is heavy demands placed on them. They kept the network up and going. Our lives have been and still is at home, spending the whole day in home office and video conference, working from home, home schooling with the kids and on top of it all, all kinds of entertainment through television, Netflix, et cetera. Telecommunications conferences via Zoom require 3 megabits per second. If I download a YouTube video or a Netflix video, I need 5 megabits per second. If you add that all up, you'll notice very quickly that 50 megabits per second, this is what you need, and that's really that way. But nevertheless, it doesn't always go smoothly in every household and not every connection works smoothly. In most cases, it's because of the home networking. Home networking has to be improved to also make customer experience better because if you get a lag or something like that, that's due to what's happening in the building itself. The building itself can slow down the signal by up to 40%. And if it's by a radio transmission, then -- or WiFi, then you can have problems as well. That's why I have a couple of tips for you, practical tips. Use WiFi 6. That's a new standard that you can install. It's kind of like this. It's like going from a 2-lane interstate to 6-lane interstate. And mesh routers, that's my second tip. That's the latest technology that we're selling right now. What is that mesh? Mesh is a router that works with repeaters and that are installed in different rooms to the household. So it's like this. Every room has an optimum WiFi supply through these repeaters because each of them sends out a wireless signal, not only does it strengthen the signal, you can have good data connections everywhere in the household. And you might be saying, "Oh, how am I supposed to install this? I don't understand software. I don't -- I even have trouble with computers, I need a technician." No, it's not. Good technology functions and works simply and that's why I'd like to present our mesh router to you. Here, you see the latest model from Deutsche Telekom. This is the main router. And these are the devices that you put in the individual rooms in your household. You install it, plug it in and you push this plus button here, and then you go in the other room and you hit the plus button there. And it works. All devices work in all the different rooms. You have the same great data connection in every room where these are installed. Most of them work with 50 to 100 megabit in a very stable way. And we are offering this to 34 million households already today. And our competition -- competitors like to sell this product too, by the way. But usage behavior will change. New applications will be coming online that need more bandwidth than what we have installed in our homes today. And that is what we are getting ready for right now. The future is fiber optics, ladies and gentlemen, and this is the famous fiber optics that all of Germany is talking about. A fiber optics cable like this can be used to supply an entire district of a city. Just a couple of these tiny cables can supply a couple of thousand customers with a huge bandwidth. If we're talking about 50 megabits today, and 150 or 200 megabit, which we have laid cables for that in a lot of places, we're talking about many times that amount, we can have transmissions of up to 1 gigabit per second. And new technology will be able to handle 10 gigabits per second. That's the future we're talking about, all types of data connections into the household will be made possible by this. How can we get this fiber optics in the home? What does telecom have to do so that everybody can benefit from this huge bandwidth? Just like everything else in life, the most important thing is to be well prepared. Being well prepared, starts with the planning and network planning at Deutsche Telekom has been modernized. You might have seen out on the street, the [ TCAR ], which is helping digitize our entire infrastructure with fiber optics. What is this [ TCAR ] that you see on the road everywhere now? First of all, it's outfitted with cameras. It's got laser scanners on it. And they make recorded images of areas where fiber optics are to be installed in the future. Every 5 meters, it does a 360-degree sweep of the whole area. Four individual cameras mounted on this device ensure that every detail on the surface structure can be recognized. Two GPS antennas on top of this make sure that these pictures are directly linked to the location and synchronized with it. And that gives you a completely digital picture of the whole street and the data is then put in a huge database. And with AI, it is then processed and improved. Artificial intelligence. And that gives you a complete digital picture of areas that we want to serve. And also, it helps you optimize the whole -- yes, the whole grid of fiber optics. Here, you see Dortmund, for example, on the screen. Dortmund has 2,000 kilometers of roads that have to be scanned. We've done a lot of it already. And during these trips, we are making 2 million photos of this region, just here in this city. And it's, of course, anonymous, completely anonymous. Vehicles are turned into pixels and the planning is then made available to the municipal authorities immediately. So it's not a lot of red tape, and it's not a lot of bureaucracy. It's all taking place digitally. And what's important in all this is especially the planning of the so-called distribution cabinets because you have to route the fiber optic cables out of the ground and then get it to the home. And the planning of these cabinets is key in all this. This -- we could save up to 50% of the expenses required and all this time and effort by doing it all digitally and it cuts the time down to a fraction. So just to give you an idea, here, our Chairman of the Supervisory Board, he's also a technician involved in the laying of the fiber optics infrastructure. But ladies and gentlemen, that's not everything because we've planned this. But now the rollout has to begin. The roadwork is one thing, but how do we go from the road into the household? How do we go from the street into the house? And I'll tell you one thing. The front yard is sacred in Germany. And that's why we have to find a new technology. We have to think about this, and I want to give you a little presentation on this. This is like -- we call it a ground rocket. And you have the house in the background. And it starts at the street. And then we want to go through the front yard without causing any damage. This is a ground rocket; weighs about 20 kilos. It's got a circumference of 10 centimeters. And we use pressurized air underground to shoot it through from the road to the house. This is the magenta mall, and it covers up to 15 meters per hour and finally reaches the house and then we hook it up and fiber to the home project is completed. So ladies and gentlemen, this is a huge investment. Maybe the biggest investment in the history of Deutsche Telekom. We've said by 2024, 10 million households should are planned to get fiber optics and not just to the street. We're talking into the apartment, into the home. So for us, this is a huge technological challenge, but also an administrative challenge. And we love it. We love the challenge. The color of the fiber optic cable in Germany is magenta. We're investing, and we are the network of the future. And I would thank all of you in the rain, cold and snow during the corona pandemic who've been out there, making sure that our network is fantastic today and will become even better in the future. Dear shareholders, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, in a nutshell, 2020 was a record year for Deutsche Telekom despite the coronavirus pandemic. Deutsche Telekom's employees are really going the extra mile right now. And for that, I offer my warmest thanks. Our culture has carried us through the guiding principles we follow. And that is what I want to talk about today. In this difficult period, we are in a position to provide a sense of security to the people out there. Our hygiene concepts work. The incidence levels at telecom are much lower than in the average population. Last year, the health rate even improved to 95%, and we hope that we will also be able to vaccinate in the near future over 70,000 employees within 8 weeks. Our company medical service could handle that. And therefore, we see light at the end of the tunnel. We just don't know how long the tunnel is. But we are looking forward, bolstered by the strong financial position that we created for ourselves in 2020. Ladies and gentlemen, we are strong in the United States. We're strong in Germany, and we're also strong in Europe. Handelsblatt was writing this morning, Deutsche Telekom, way ahead of its competitors. Well, we exceeded our guidance on both sides of the Atlantic. Revenue up 25.4% to EUR 101 billion, thereby breaking through the revenue sound barrier of EUR 100 billion. In organic terms, revenue increased by 3%, which means that we grew even without the merger in the United States. Adjusted EBITDA, up 41.6% to EUR 35 billion. In organic terms, the growth rate here stood at 7.9%. Organically, net profit up 7.5% to EUR 4.2 billion. Adjusted earnings per share, plus 15.4%, EUR 1.20. Free cash flow, EUR 6.3 billion, down 10.3%, but we had expected this decline. It is just a temporary consequence of the business combination in the United States, which we closed exactly a year ago today. And I can tell you that it has already become a smashing success. We are now serving more than 100 million customers in the U.S. and that already positions us second in the U.S. market, even though we started from a very weak position. The market capitalization of T-Mobile US has actually increased, and the synergies are even greater than planned. We had anticipated $6 billion per year, and now we expect $7.5 billion. So what are we doing with all that money? First, we are reducing debt in the United States. Then we will benefit directly from the success of the U.S. business. In the period from 2023 to 2025, T-Mobile US will give up to $60 billion back to shareholders. And as you know, we currently hold a stake of around 43%. So up to around $26 billion will go to Deutsche Telekom. This gives us a lot of scope and opens up completely new possibilities for us as entrepreneurs. First of all, we can increase our shareholding in T-Mobile US to more than 50%. We already secured the option to do that. And at a much lower price than the current share price. Secondly, we can invest further in Europe. Without the United States, the fiber optic build-out in Germany that I was just talking about would be much more difficult. And thirdly, we can further develop our dividend policy. And we can reduce the group's net debt. At present, it stands at around EUR 120 billion. That is 2.78x our adjusted EBITDA. However, we are aiming for 2.25 to 2.75, and we will be back inside this range in the medium term. Ladies and gentlemen, people make numbers. And a corporate culture without a strategy is aimless. But a strategy without culture is weak. The former national handball coach, Dagur Sigurðsson, once told me the following formula for success. He said, "Success equals talent plus hard work times attitude." The right attitude is the key factor here if we want to be successful in our business. It's the multiplier for what we want to achieve. For us, this is expressed in 6 guiding principles. First of all, delight our customers, always putting customers first. All our products and internal processes are aligned accordingly. And in our Ideas Forge, we work together with customers on new products. Among the places I went to visit last year were Nuremberg and Bamberg, where I met my colleague, Tanja Kroczek. In the first coronavirus wave, she packed up her computer, put it in her car, and since then, she's been working from home. If just 1 customer is disconnected from the Internet, she swings into action. And just like her 30,000 service colleagues in Germany, they do the same day in, day out. They fulfilled, we fulfilled 43 million customer requests in 2020. Another case in point that shows from the attitude come the results. Fewer complaints. Down 35% since 2019. Less lateness. Actually, none anymore. Our technicians are on time for 95% of all agreed appointments. Less ping pong. We resolve more than half the problems on the first call. The first contact resolution rate has increased significantly to now 54%. We only finish the call when a problem has been solved. Our customer service sets us apart from all our competitors who used to say in the past that they were better than us. And that hasn't always been the case. Today, however, we are leading the field. No matter which indicator you look at, brand image, ratings from our customers, ratings from trade journals, Deutsche Telekom is almost always in first place. And today, it's no different. It was today, after all, that we achieved another accolade from connect magazine. But most of all, I am delighted by the direct feedback that we've had from customers. We've undertaken to turn our customers into fans. And during the crisis, there really was fan mail. We received hundreds of letters saying, thank you, thanks to me and thanks to our organization as a whole. You can see just a couple of examples behind me on the wall here. Thank you, dear customers. It does us good. And it certainly motivates us to become even better. And yes, I also deal with customer complaints personally. I'm looking into it with my colleagues. We swing into action, and we try to solve any problem that is out there, even though we may not even have created it. That takes us to the second guiding principle, which is get things done. We want things to be as simple as possible for our customers. So we are simplifying all our products. Sometimes, we start out small and then we make it big. The best example of this is the MeinMagenta app, which we developed in the European markets. Of course, it's also available in Germany. And we continue to add more features. This app lets customers manage everything themselves from home: setting up WiFi; reporting falls; questions relating to the contract. Everything is possible with this app. And 60% of all our customers are using it as we speak. And that's what I call successful digitization. The fact that this works comes down to 1 thing. We have migrated our entire network to the Internet protocol. You could say there is no more need for interpreters in our network. In other words, the interfaces between the individual components. Instead, everything now speaks 1 language. Everything understands this language. All devices and all applications are now IP-based. We invested more than EUR 1 billion in this migration over the past few years. And I can tell you it is now paying off. We are seeing more digitization. There are clearly fewer outages. Our customer service is perceived as being more efficient, easy setup of devices. And that's what IP stands for. And by the way, we've been pioneers of this field in the telecom sector. And at the same time, we have had another positive effect, which is we reduced Telekom Deutschland's indirect costs, which were down EUR 200 million last year alone. The second aspect of this guideline is, and the guideline, once again, is get things done, despite corona, we built out more. Deutsche Telekom is the leading 5G provider far and away. We cover 80% of the population in Germany, 86% in the United States and 100% in the Netherlands. And I'm guessing they appreciate it. Deutsche Telekom has always been leading in mobile communications. We have the best network in 12 out of 13 markets. We are the best provider in Europe. And our network in the Netherlands, it's the best network ever tested in the world, at least according to the external provider, Umlaut, which just encourages us to continue along these lines. In the fixed network, we are being accused of having missed the boat. But let's be honest here. We aren't the ones that stand around waiting at the pier. We set sail long ago, and we've completed many stages along the way. We started by laying optical fiber to the gray street cabinets, vectoring and super vectoring. Our competitors who complained about that big time, but that didn't mean that they were laying out optical fiber themselves. Instead, they used our lines. I mean, anyone who says FTTC needs to do FTTH. And that's why we are now building optical fiber directly into the homes as I was able to demonstrate to you before my speech. Having said that, Deutsche Telekom will not create a new monopoly network. We are no longer a state-run company. We are basically a customers' corporation. And that's why we are working with hundreds of partners. We also know, however, that our major competitors will not build as much FTTH as we will. So we've concluded lease agreements for our network with Vodafone, Telefónica and 1&1 Versatel. Volume: EUR 17 billion over 10 years. This will enable us to increase the utilization of our network. It reduces our costs. At the same time, it increases the profitability of our own build-out, and we can continue to invest. Ladies and gentlemen, I am an avowed network investor and always have been. In the past 7 years, we invested EUR 36 billion in Germany alone, which is 30% more than in the 7 years before that. And now we will raise this figure again. EUR 18.4 billion will be invested worldwide in this year alone. And in Germany, over EUR 5.5 billion. And of course, we also need to acquire the relevant mobile spectrum for that. And I can assure you we won't be satisfied until everyone can take part. #Byebye. Now no risk, no gain. Infrastructure pays off over a long period. For fiber, it is 15 years. What really matters is that you have a high-capacity utilization of the infrastructure, together with fair prices, and, of course, low internal production costs. And that's why the digital planning that we've rolled out and upgraded is so important. Last year, we achieved a return on capital employed of 4.6% in the group. That is more than our cost of capital. And this goes to show that our long-term investments are paying off. In Germany, our broadband revenues are up 7.8% compared to 2018. We are no longer losers. And with FTTH, this figure will grow even more. The third guiding principle is team together, team apart. Deutsche Telekom has developed a strong culture of debate, which is what this wobbler stands for. We don't want to be wobblers. For us, it is not about the power of individual departments. Rather, it is about the power of the point made. We did away with the sulking corner. We work together to implement what we've decided together. One good example is climate protection. The build-out of the networks, the operation of data centers, the cars that our technicians use to get out and about, all these things generate more CO2. And the young generation, in particular, is demanding that we do something about it because every ton of carbon, CO2 saved ensures a bit more future. So we discussed it. Between the cost on the one side and the necessary climate protection on the other. There's no compromise here. And that's why we said we want both things. We want the build-out, and we want it to be climate-neutral. To this end, we've invested tens of millions of euros. We've invested in solar parks and wind farms, and we only buy electricity from renewable sources of energy. Deutsche Telekom's network is 100% green. Last year alone, we saved 300,000 metric tons of CO2 in Germany. Deutsche Telekom aims to be leading in this field as well. And that's why we've adjusted our targets once again. For 2030, we had committed to 90% less CO2. Now we've determined that we will reach 100%, and we will do this by 2025. But we want more. The products that we buy and sell, that we are using should also be net 0. And we will achieve this by 2040. The fourth guiding principle is act with respect and integrity. Deutsche Telekom advocates for a society in which diversity and inclusion are a given. There's no room for racism, sexism or discrimination in our company. Our T stands for taking part. Diversity brings people together. 27% of our managers are women, and the number keeps rising. And in 2020, we filled 24% of all management vacancies internationally. One example being our Board of Management. Dominique Leroy has been responsible for the Europe segment since November. Welcome, dear Dominique. Ladies and gentlemen, we also stand for respect and integrity beyond that because, unfortunately, we see that hate and incendiary speech are on the rise, and the Internet is becoming a crime scene in this context. Deutsche Telekom takes a clear position on this. We are campaigning with 44 partners because we want an Internet in which people can move freely, without fear of being marginalized or of being discriminated against. Our campaign against hate speech has reached 340 million people. It is shaking things up. It is moving people. And hopefully, it will help to improve online discourse. Because, by the way, democracy is also an attitude. Dear shareholders, respect is a social duty. It's also a corporate one mind you. And especially in this last far from simple year of the coronavirus, we were able to see that our employees did an even harder and even better job. And that's why we paid out a special bonus to them, EUR 500 across Europe for everyone except for managers. We also encourage employees to be a part of Deutsche Telekom. In Germany, any employee can now buy shares for EUR 1,000 per year, and we will add half the shares again on top after a retention period of 4 years, and that's how you turn employees into entrepreneurs. The fifth guiding principle is I am T, count on me. We keep our promises. That's our claim for everything who's working in this company in terms of how we are dealing with each other, how we are dealing with our customers and of course, the same goes for you, our shareholders. What we say is what we do. We are proposing a dividend of EUR 0.60 per share for this year. This puts the return from share price and dividend at 6.8% in 2020, which is much higher than at all of our main competitors. And the share has performed very well recently. The price is currently at EUR 17.11, and it has developed very well. But I still believe that we can cross the EUR 20 mark. And most analysts also see room for growth. The average target share price assumed by analysts is EUR 19.82. This means Deutsche Telekom is bucking the trend. And it's the only telecommunications company still represented in the EURO STOXX 50. All the other telecom companies got kicked out. Why is that? Well, first of all, we focus on strong economies. We operate our networks, exclusively in Europe and the United States. So we are somehow the market leader in the western world. Secondly, we focus on doing what we're good at, building networks and selling products that are closely linked to these networks. Thirdly, we offer our customers added value. Fixed mobile convergence products from a single source. And fourthly, we actively address issues. Albania, Romania, Greece, the Netherlands and yes, even the United States used to be trouble kits. In all these countries, business did not go to plan in the past. So either we parted away from it or we licked that business into shape. And how? Just look at what's happening in the United States or Greece or our pearl, which is the Netherlands. Above all, however, our success is down to the fact that from our attitude, real actions follow. And in business life, trust is the most important currency, and reliability begets trust. Deutsche Telekom has built new trust in recent years, including on the capital market, which brings me to my final point. And the last guiding principle, which is stay curious and grow. We keep our eyes open. We stay on the ball. In our company, everyone enjoys personal growth. And as a result, so does the company as a whole. So we grow. Mobile customers in Europe and Germany, up 1.4 million last year. In the United States, up 5.5 million. Broadband customers, up 388,000 in Germany. So that's a plus, the figure is not shrinking as in the past, And the number of broadband customers in Europe was up 281,000 people. And earnings are growing accordingly. In 2020, the bottom line was up 1.5% in Germany; up 2.1% in Europe; up 10.8% in the United States; and in the Group Development segment, it was up 6.6%. And we are continuing this growth in Germany by systematically building out FTTH and 5G. This should help us to gain more shares. In Europe, by focusing business more on convergent office, i.e., mobile communications, fixed network and TV from a single source. And in the United States, with our attack on the duopoly of AT&T and Verizon. We can become the #1 there. And we always have the best network by some margin. We also see opportunities for growth with business customers. We now support small and medium-sized companies from Telekom Deutschland in a holistic way. And that is 1 reason why revenue has fallen at T-Systems. In 2020, it was down 5.6% to EUR 4.2 billion. And we are also shedding business that does not turn a profit. But the coronavirus pandemic is also taking its toll at T-Systems. Corporations are holding back on investments for the moment. And the restructuring of T-Systems is hard. We know that. That said, T-Systems also needs to make a positive contribution to the group's results. And to this end, we are now aligning it as a straight service provider for information technology, which means business with data centers or the cloud; digital solutions, such as the Warn-App, which can soon be used to report rapid antigen tests, by the way; and thirdly, security, everything companies need to protect themselves in the digital space. Dear shareholders, 2020 really was a record year yet again. But this year, we want to do even better. We plan to achieve adjusted EBITDA of around EUR 37 billion; free cash flow of around EUR 8 billion; and we also expect revenue to grow even further. We will announce our medium-term planning at the Capital Markets Day in May. Ladies and gentlemen, we are still in the midst of the pandemic. But many people are losing confidence. We are not going to be affected by this. We have shown that we can be successful even during the crisis. And I think there is reason to be optimistic in Germany as well overall. We can do more than we sometimes think we can. We have all the ingredients for the formula for success: dedication; talent; and now it comes down to our individual attitude. I hope that once the pandemic is over, we will take a good hard look. What did we do well? What did we do badly? And then we need to consistently change what didn't work well. And that doesn't only hold true for telecom. It applies to our society as a whole. And the question can't be what have I got to lose? Rather, it must be what can we all gain together? And exactly what contribution can I make myself? Digitization at all levels is the key here. It is an obligation for Europe as a matter of fact, and an opportunity for Deutsche Telekom. We are ready to help. Because we know ourselves that what it takes is to delight our customers: be a team together and a team apart; to act with respect and integrity; to be somebody that others can count on; stay curious and grow; and above all, get things done. Just like our 6 guiding principles. In this way, Deutsche Telekom will continue to be successful now and in the future. Our attitude powers our strategy. So does our corporate culture. So that from the supposed small details of 2020, the big picture of 2030 can grow. And that is a picture of a successful Deutsche Telekom. There can be no future without a past. Thank you. [Presentation]

Mr. Hottges, thank you very much for your statements. You provided a very clear picture of the situation now and of the future. And we all know that the future will be built on our past. And this is what the Management Board worked on. And I would like to thank the Board of Management and all the employees of Deutsche Telekom for their work, which makes the company what it is. And I think it is also on behalf of the shareholders that I thank all the employees for their achievements in the past financial year. And I would like to ask the Board of Management to convey our thanks to the employees. Dear shareholders, in a physical meeting, there would be applause now, but this cannot happen right now. But I would like to just take to the minutes that we would have applause if we had a different type of a meeting. I hope this is also in your interest. Let me now cover the Supervisory Board report. The report is included in the annual report, and it starts on Page 7. I would like to summarize the report as follows: the Supervisory Board intensively monitored and supported the management in the business, and we had a total of 47 meetings, 12 Supervisory Board meetings, 1 off-site meeting and 34 committee meetings. The participation rate overall was a 98%. But at this occasion, I would also like to mention that the work of the Supervisory Board does not only happen in the meetings of the Supervisory Board, but the Supervisory Board is a corporate body and is closely linked to the company, treating the major topics. Cooperation with the Board of Management has always been good and based on trust. The high number of meetings ensures a close and regular exchange with the Board of Management. The essential basis for fulfilling the legal supervisory tasks where the verbal and written reports provided by the Board of Management. The Supervisory Board reviewed the development of the company in its regular meetings. The Board of Management fully met its information requirements in a timely manner. The content and scope of the reports complied with all the legal requirements. Even between the meetings, the Board of Management replied to individual questions or reported verbally. Additionally, I had a regular exchange with the CEO between the official meetings. On the basis of its reviews and discussions with the auditors, the Supervisory Board came to the conclusion that the internal control system, the risk management system, the compliance system as well as the internal audit system are functionable and effective. The business transactions and measures that the Board of Management submitted to the Supervisory Board in the financial year 2020 in accordance with the list of business transactions subject to codetermination were discussed thoroughly and reviewed in detail. We approved the measures presented. The external auditor audited the financial statements and the consolidated financial statements as well as the management report and the group management report and granted an unqualified audit opinion. The Supervisory Board approved the financial statements and the consolidated financial statements after its review during the meeting on the 25th of February 2021. The financial statements are thus adopted. The year 2020 was a year of major challenges and significant achievements for Deutsche Telekom. We are happy and proud to say that it was the best year ever in the corporate history of the company. Let me briefly mention the most significant issues discussed by the Supervisory Board in the past financial year. The financial statements and consolidated financial statements, the business strategy and development in the United States, finalization of the merger between T-Mobile U.S. and the mobile provider Sprint. Integration of Sprint, T-Systems business strategy and development, further development of the group strategy and group transformation, financial and debt situation, market situation and competitive situation, development of a new Board compensation system, and I will say more on this topic later. Various portfolio decisions, for example, the sale of the Dutch radio tower business and the fixed line business in Romania. And then personnel matters. Reorganization of the Board divisions, Mr. Gopalan, now board member for Germany; Mrs. Leroy, now a board member for Europe; extension of the board employment contracts of Mrs. Nemat, Ms. Bohle and Mr. Langheim. And what is really important, long-term succession planning for the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board. Budget and annual finance plan 2021 and mid-term plan 2021 to 2024. And last year and this year of special importance, corona crisis management with the effect of the pandemic on the business, but also the employees of the company. Now let me talk about the situation of the company, your company. The financial year 2020 marked a record high for Deutsche Telekom. Let me repeat this, a record high for Deutsche Telekom in its history. In spite of the corona crisis and corona hit us in double way, it restricted our activities, but it also promoted our business. Due to the Sprint takeover, revenues for the first time increased to more than EUR 100 billion, and earnings also grew significantly. Organically, i.e., without Sprint, the growth rate year-on-year was almost 8%. And in absolute figures, this is EUR 2.6 billion. Mr. Hottges just illustrated the records achieved in the last year. The group, and this is of major importance is on a growth path. The operational business saw a very good development in almost all areas. And I have to say that this is not a given. The business year was characterized by consistent execution of the group's strategy just presented by Mr. Hottges and the ongoing transformation of the group in times of digitization and technological change. The financial year 2020 was exceptional in many respects. It was characterized by significant achievements by the Board of Management and by the unforeseen corona crisis. Deutsche Telekom completed a trailblazing transaction in the United States. Deutsche Telekom improved its market position in Europe and simultaneously made a significant contribution to deal with the corona consequences by providing stable networks. Deutsche Telekom invested almost EUR 17 billion, which is roughly 30% more than last year. Despite the difficult general environment, the company has laid solid foundations for future success. The excellent results confirm the successful work of the Board of Management. And I would like to expressly thank the Board of Management on behalf of the entire Supervisory Board for these extraordinary achievements. The tough competition in the industry and the permanent competitive and regulatory pressure, however, remain challenging for the company. But whereas most of the telecommunications companies in Europe have difficulties coping with these pressures Deutsche Telekom is very well positioned, and by far, the leading telecommunications provider in Europe. The Board of Management has a clear strategy to ensure Deutsche Telekom's future. Based on the results achieved in 2020, as Mr. Hottges already mentioned, the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board in line with the announced dividend policy, propose a dividend payment of EUR 0.60 per share. It is now important to consistently execute and develop the strategy of Deutsche Telekom that Mr. Hottges just described vividly in his speech. I'm confident that the Board of Management and the employees will continue to succeed in building on the strength of Deutsche Telekom. And I think is especially that the new focus on the important topic of corporate culture, just mentioned by Mr. Hottges, will make a huge contribution. Ladies and gentlemen, let me now talk about personnel changes in the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board. Let me first talk about the Board of Management. Ms. Birgit Bohle has headed up the extended Human Resources and Legal Affairs Board of Management department since the 1st of January 2020. Dr. Thomas Kremer, who led the area, Data Privacy, Legal and Compliance, retired from the group as of the 31st of March 2021 -- 2020 and he supported the transition to the new structure before he left the company. As already announced in the last shareholders meeting, Dr. Dirk Wossner left the Board of Management at the end of last year. He resigned from his function as the Head of the Department for Germany on the Board of Management as of the 1st of November 2020. In June 2020, Mr. Srini Gopalan, formerly responsible for Europe was appointed as the new Board of Management member for Germany effective November 2020. In September 2020, the Supervisory Board appointed Ms. Dominique Leroy to succeed Mr. Gopalan as the Board of Management member for Europe effective first of November 2020. And Ms. Leroy is an experienced manager, strengthening the Board of Management of Deutsche Telekom. Ms. Leroy has a track record of more than 30 years of experience in the consumer goods and telecommunications industries and knows the industry very, very well. The Supervisory Board welcomes the even more international and diverse composition of the Telecom Board of Management. Again, a very warm welcome to you, Ms. Leroy. We are happy to have you on board. Finally, I shall report about 3 reappointments. In December, we reappointed Ms. Nemat as a board member responsible for technology and innovation effective 1st of November 2021 for another term of office. In February, we reappointed Ms. Birgit Bohle, Board member for HR and Legal Affairs. And Mr. Thorsten Langheim, Board member U.S.A. and Group Development, and these 3 appointments will be effective 1st of January 2022. Ms. Nemat, Ms. Bohler and Mr. Langheim, we are happy that you will stay on, and we wish you the best of success. Now let's talk about the changes in the Supervisory Board. There were no changes among the shareholders' representatives in the Supervisory Board in financial year 2020. But the term of office of Dr. Helga Jung will end with today's shareholder meeting. We propose to elect Ms. Jung for another term of office to the Supervisory Board. I have to mentioned that the Supervisory Board decided to shorten the term of office of shareholders' representatives in the Supervisory Board from 5 to 4 years in the future. And thus ensure more flexibility in the Supervisory Board as was repeatedly demanded by investors. We thus propose to elect Ms. Jung until the end of the shareholders meeting 2025. Ms. Jung is a former Board member of Allianz SE and a member of several supervisory boards. In her time at Allianz, she was responsible for the insurance business in Spain, Portugal and Latin America as well as for the areas, mergers and acquisitions, strategic shareholdings and as well, Legal and Compliance. She graduated in business administration, has a long experience in national and international top management positions and offers excellent expertise to the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Telekom. Ms. Jung has been a valued member of the Supervisory Board in the past 5 years. Please find Ms. Jung's CV in the invitation to today's shareholders' meeting, and we also published her CV before on the website. The search for candidates of the Supervisory Board was based on the agreed competence profile. And here, I would like to point your attention to the governance declaration on Page 6. We thus ensure that the relevant competencies deemed important are covered in the Supervisory Board. Changes among the employee representatives. In the financial year 2020, we saw the following changes on the employee representative side. As at May 1, 2020, and Mr. Bednarski's term of office ended when he left Deutsche Telekom. Ms. Kerstin Marx was court appointed as his successor in the Supervisory Board effective May 1, 2020. In connection with the termination of his activities at Mr. Lothar Schröder resigned from his mandate as Vice Chairman of the Supervisory Board after 14 years and Mr. Sauerland took over as the new Vice Chairman on the 27th of March 2020. I would like to thank the leaving member, Josef Bednarski on behalf of the Supervisory Board. And special thanks, again, goes to Lothar Schröder. I already thanked him last year, but I would like to thank him again for his long tenure as Vice Chairman of the Supervisory Board. And I shall also thank the current members on the Supervisory board for their intensive and successful work last year. Thank you. And I will now come to the topic of corporate governance. And here, especially compensation. As you can see from the annual report, Deutsche Telecom complied with the recommendations made by the German Corporate Governance Code in its old version in the year 2020. In the current financial year, we will follow the rules of the new corporate governance code. Compensation. As announced last year, the Supervisory Board developed a new Management Board compensation system that is submitted for approval during this shareholders meeting under agenda item 9. The new Management Board compensation system defines the framework conditions for the granting of compensation components to the Management Board, and thus, the total compensation. The Supervisory Board has developed the new compensation system on the basis of the new stock operation act and especially the new act implementing the Shareholders' Rights Directive, out of the new governance code. The elements are mainly based on a stronger share component in the compensation and the use of the so-called ESG criteria as 1 of the key APIs for variable compensation. The letters E-S-G stands for the sustainability objectives of the company: E for environment, S for social and G for governance. The provisions of the new compensation system will be introduced within 2 months of the shareholders' meeting, taking place retrospectively on 1st of January 2021. It is, of course, based on your approval, dear shareholders. We will submit transition provisions to the members of the Board of Management and hope that they will all change into the new system. However, and this is what I would like to underline here, the existing board contract enjoys protection of the status quo. When defining the new compensation system, the Supervisory Board followed the following principles. And before I explain these principles, let me point out that the compensation system is not the only way to control the Board of Management and the company. And the only way for the Board of Management to control the company. The contrary impression was stated in the pre discussions and this is why I would like to mention again that there are various control systems in the company. And these control systems are even of a higher importance than the compensation system. We ensure compliance within regulatory and legal requirements and the principles of good corporate governance. We support a long-term corporate strategy for sustainable development. We define appropriate compensation levels in line with peer groups. And the levels are independent of the system but are then, of course, based on the system. What we want to achieve is strong pay for performance, which means that the payment is based on the achievements. We also would like to take into account the shareholders' interests and the stakeholders' interests. The system should be intuitive and transparent, especially for the board members affected. What is also important is a consistency of the compensation system in the company, starting at the level of the Board of Management down to the employees. And following these principles, the Supervisory Board developed the compensation system over a period of almost 2 years. It took us long because we also had a lot of discussions with investors and proxy advisers to take into account the investors' views regarding the requirements and the design of an adequate compensation system. And we also waited for the final conclusion of the [ Haruk II ] law. And we used the discussions with the and the proxy advisers in order to compare the approach of the Supervisory Board with their ideas to explain the motivation of the Supervisory Board, was to respond to criticism raised by investors. Let me point out 1 aspect of our compensation proposal. And this is the possibility to reward special achievements of a board member in the interests of the company with an extraordinary bonus payment in exceptional cases. There were a number of questions on this point in the run-up of the Shareholders Meeting. And I would like to explain the Supervisory Board's motivation to preserve this compensation component. The Supervisory Board would like to keep the possibility to make a special payment in the case of exceptional developments. Of course, the Supervisory Board will ensure the adequacy of such payments. It will only use such a payment if the performance to be rewarded, had an exceptionally positive influence on the long-term strategy and development of Deutsche Telekom. Furthermore, such a payment will be based on a really, an extraordinary performance of the board member. The performance that has to go beyond the normal responsibility of the respective board members. It is also important to know that such a special bonus payment is subject to the compensation cap. This means that the special bonus cannot go beyond the maximum cap defined. This cap will still be in place. Finally, I would like to point out that we use the instrument of extraordinary success bonus payments very restrictively and very cautiously in the past. We did it, for example, in the case of the special bonus for Mr. Hottges for his extraordinary performance regarding the merger between T-Mobile U.S. and Sprint. Dear shareholders, this should suffice on the topic of Management Board compensation for now. During the Q&A session, I will come back to individual questions regarding the compensation system. Dear shareholders, ladies and gentlemen, let me summarize my report on the year 2020 as follows. The Supervisory Board has closely monitored and supported the Management Board on the basis of a compliant and effective corporate governance. Deutsche Telekom is strategically well positioned, is on a clear operational growth path and it is financially well positioned based on a solid balance sheet and strong free cash flow. Thus, the Board of Management has laid strong foundations also to master future challenges. The past is guaranteeing the future. Dear shareholders, I would like to thank you very much for your attention. I am now going to address items 2 to 11 on the agenda. The forwarding of the agenda items 2 to 10 as well as the motions for resolution proposed by management can be found in the invitation published in the Federal Gazette. There is 1 special circumstance surrounding item 2. As part of the share matching plan, treasury shares were transferred to plan participants in the current financial year, 7,213 of which were transferred after February 16, 2021. As a result, the number of dividend bearing shares increased compared to the figure indicated in the invitation in the shareholders' meeting. The Board of Management and the Supervisory Board, therefore, adjusted the notion of resolution for item 2 on the agenda as announced regarding this issue in the invitation to the shareholders meeting. The Board of Management and the Supervisory Board propose the adoption of the following resolution. Net income of EUR 5,129,092,899.85 posted in the 2020 financial year shall be used as follows: payment of a dividend of $0.60 per no par value share carrying dividend rights. That equates to EUR 2,846,680 million (sic) [ EUR 2,846,086,526.40 ]. And we propose to carry forward the remaining balance to unappropriated net income, which equates to EUR 2,283,006,073.45 (sic) [ EUR 2,283,006,373.45 ] The adjusted motion on the appropriation of net income is available for inspection on the shareholders' meeting website at www.telecom.com/hv. That's what I wanted to say about Items 2 to 10. The full wording of agenda Item 11. And the associated motion for resolution submitted by the shareholders can be found in the amended agenda published in the Federal Gazette. Dear shareholders, I am now going to announce the current attendance figure. So autonomous telecom again this is the 1st of April 2021 in Bonn. Here is a list. At the moment, 3,245,280,073 shares are represented. That equates to EUR 8,370,116,556.58 or 68.16%. That's 4,761,458,596 no par value shares. This equates to the following share capital, EUR 12,189,334,005.76. In addition, we have received postal proxies for a large number of no par value shares. Please refer to the numbers on the wall behind me. This, of course, will be relevant when assessing the votes cast later on. And so I will give you an updated set of figures later on. At the current time, 68.74% of the share capital is represented here, including the postal votes. I will hand over these figures to the Notary Republic. The list of participants is available for inspection on site. As already mentioned, information from the list of participants and of the attendance sector -- figure can be accessed via our password protected Internet dialogue during the meeting itself. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, we will now commence the Q&A session. I would now like to ask our CEO, Tim Hottges, to start responding to the questions submitted in advance of the Shareholders meeting. Mr. Hottges, I don't know whether you wanted to comment on how much interest there has been in submitting questions and how things may have changed versus last year and whether you wish to dare to give us a forecast on how things might develop. We hope that we will be able to welcome shareholders in person next year, but we don't know. So over to you, Tim Hottges.

Thank you very much, Chairman. And also thank you for your great cooperation with the Board of Management. I would like to comment briefly before I start to answer questions. We received 569 questions from almost 200 shareholder representatives. So that's more than last year. Maybe just anecdotally, my speech had 2,000 words. And 1 shareholder actually submitted questions corresponding to about 10,000 words. So it's not my fault if things take a lot of time today. Some questions were, of course, very similar, almost identical. And so we will be collating these questions and breaking them down by subject matter. We have 13 thematic areas, and there are 315 questions that we will be responding to. This is the order in which we wanted to respond to your questions in. We will indicate this ahead of each thematic block, and we will also, of course, be responding to those questions that didn't fit in with any of these thematic areas. The Internet's dialogue was, of course, your channel in submitting questions, and there were a number of personal issues and customer issues that were raised via the Internet dialogue. Of course, we won't be responding to them here today. But of course, we have passed them on to the responsible department, customer services notably, and they will resolve any issues you may have. Shareholders registered for the shareholders' meetings were able to submit questions until Tuesday midnight, using the Internet dialogue. The last question came in at 11:45 p.m. on the 30th of March. Questions that came in outside of the Internet dialogue can for legal reasons not be answered. I hope that you understand why that is. And so let's start answering the questions from the shareholders. Ladies and gentlemen, of course, we received a number of questions on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Coming in, amongst other things, from [ Mr. Schmidt, Mr. Oswald, Ms. Gable and Mr. Weidenbiller ] and a number of shareholders that are not mentioned by name. On the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Telekom, let me just say one thing. Generally speaking, we are getting through this crisis pretty well. Deutsche Telekom is economically stable. We have more than EUR 100 billion revenues in 2020. That was a record-breaking year for us. Our investments were beyond EUR 17 billion. That's also a record-breaking figure. But of course, our business activities in various parts of the group were impacted by the pandemic. For instance, there were some temporary travel restrictions, meaning that our roaming and visitor revenue went down. And the terminal device business was impacted as well as our large customer business. I mentioned this in my speech. That said, we had an increased demand for voice telephony, especially in the fixed network area that was in early 2020. I want to stress that it is not possible to make proper predictions on how long the pandemic will take. So that is why our guidance for 2021 includes the impact of further issues here, especially in regard to roaming. We believe that the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic will impact on our bottom line to the tune of about EUR 200 million in 2020, the same is true for 2021. There was no coronavirus pandemic induced reduction in the workforce across the group. On the Corona Warn app, our tracing app, I want to say the following. It has been downloaded more than 26 million times. And so this tracing app is one of the most successful worldwide, it is helping to combat the effects of the pandemic. Almost 300,000 users have registered positive tests so far and we're able, hence, to warn other users. At the moment, 26.5 million downloads have been done. Of course, this is a major project. And not everything has gone according to plan, but we believe that this is a success story that we can certainly be proud of. Anecdotally, I was actually warned 3 times that I had contacts that tested positive, and I was able to respond accordingly. The app is being developed all the time with new functions, and any ideas to improve it are being tested and trialed on an ongoing basis. We are liaising with the Robert Koch Institute and the Federal Ministry of Health in this area. There will, for instance, be a so-called event function integrated so that infection clusters can be recognized. And yesterday, you may have heard reports on the integration of results of rapid tests that can be uploaded to the app. Of course, the functions have to remain voluntary. As always, we do not want to collect more data than necessary. It is an open source app, the program code is openly available. The level of data protection is very high, which has meant great acceptance. But of course, on the other hand, it's also criticized for that. The federal government asked Deutsche Telekom and SAP to create the app. We are fulfilling this mission in an economically efficient manner. The development costs are expected to be about EUR 20 million. And per month, the running costs are about $2.5 million to EUR 3.5 million for the entire infrastructure, including the operation of the hot lines. A lot of people are calling in and that, of course, costs money. That is included in this amount. We also were asked about travel costs that were not incurred because of the pandemic. Of course, these are helping to boost our bottom line in 2020, but I do want to stress that there have also been negative effects. We reported in detail on that. On the question itself, excluding the U.S. business. In 2020, we spent around EUR 100 million less on travel expenses than in 2019. A lot of that, not everything, but a lot of it is due to the pandemic. On the question of whether we have any changes in our loan liabilities because of the crisis. No, there have been no noticeable changes. One shareholder asked us whether we have any closed shops at the moment and whether there are any shop workers on short time. Yes. We have short time work in 159 of our shops. But of course, this is a scheme that is, amongst other things, dependent on incidents, rates and developments are very dynamic. And so there's lots of changes in the number of closed shops and sites. We were asked whether Deutsche Telekom topped up short-time pay. Under the wage agreement, workers of [ PVD ], this is the Deutsche Telekom [ Pratibha ] are paid a grant to make up the shortfall of up to 85% of workers' gross pay. However, not exceeding the full net salary that the workers would have earned without short-time pay. We were also asked whether we are meeting the requirements of the government on letting people working from home. Yes, we are meeting them. We were also asked how many working days have been lost because of quarantine in Deutsche Telekom AG, domestic subsidiaries and foreign subsidiaries. Overall, we have lost 16,698.66 working days accounted -- sorry, 2,393 of these dates were accounted for by dTAG and 14,305.66 days were accounted for by the subsidiaries. None of our sites shut down completely. A shareholder asked how we handled working from home before the crisis. At Deutsche Telekom, for years, we have been working -- we have been allowing mobile working. This is, in fact, part of our wage agreements as well. At the beginning of the pandemic Deutsche Telekom allowed all staff to work from home, provided their work allowed them to do so because that was a precautionary measure. A shareholder asked how much we could save in the longer-term after the COVID crisis has ended, if just 10% of working hours could be worked from home. We are monitoring developments very closely, of course. However, it's not possible to give you a good answer in terms of how much we could save. We may need less office space, that is true, but we might need more meeting space and creative space as well. A question was asked about the infection in the group. We don't divide that information. Across the group, we don't break that down. We have 1,687 infected employees in Germany, for 1,481 have recovered and 207 are still infected. Internationally, we had 3,289 infected people, 2,974 people have recovered. In the U.S., 8,874 employees were infected. And here, we don't have a breakdown between recovered and actively infected employees across the entire group. We regret that 4 colleagues died in connection with the coronavirus infection. As for voluntary support, that was a question that was asked. We do not record any numbers on that. As for the possibility to delete data from the corona warning app, none of the data are centrally stored anywhere. The data is maintained on users' devices and the users can delete that data anytime. It was also asked why no selection option was integrated into the app, allowing users to opt out of the data protection. This is a question that should be addressed to the federal government because they were our client here. We integrated whatever the federal government requested in regards to functions. We were asked about our attitude to the Luca app, both of the apps, Luca app and the Corona warning app are both helping to combat the pandemic in different ways. Of course, I believe that they complement each other quite well. And Deutsche Telekom will actively support any activity to help combat the pandemic by digital means. I would now like to say on behalf of everyone who's working in the Crisis Intervention Team to thank Ms. Bohle who is lead responsible here. Mr. [ Chavez ] is leading the staff here. Mr. [ Chavez ] and Ms. Bohle are, if you like, the shining lights that have helped to navigate the group through the crisis. They've done so extremely professionally. There's lots and lots of people in these teams working to help. Deutsche Telekom is being ranked or rated very highly by its employees for what it's doing during the crisis. And I would like to thank everyone who's been involved.

We have received a number of questions on how the telecom stock has developed in value and [ Miss and Mr. Luig, Mr. Kraus, Miss and Mr. Knuppig, Mr. Plotz, also Mr. Kessner, Mr. Seidel ] and other unnamed shareholders have asked questions here. I need to ask you to consider that we need to bear in mind that different ways of disbursing dividends need to be taken into account here. We have an overall positive return of the Telecom stock since we went public in 1996. However, compared to the DAX, things have not gone satisfactorily, there's a number of reasons for that. The EU has liberalized the market for telecommunications, regulatory issues have been against us here, lower prices for consumers and lots of competition on the market have of course impacted on prices and market share. And that is particularly true for the years 2000 to 2010, we've seen our revenue and profits decline as a result. Over the last 10 years, if people invested in the telecom share, they would have seen an increase in value of 157% compared to the DAX, the total return was 113%. Stocks Europe went up 103% in this time. And if you compare that to the General European Telecom Union sector, we see a decrease in value of minus 18% over the last 10 years. The same figures for the last 3 years have looked as follows: the value of the telecom stock has gone up 48%. That's twice as high as the DAX which went up in value, 24%. Stocks Europe 600 went up 25%, and the European telecommunication sector saw a decline in value of 11%. If we look at the last 12 months, telecom stock went up 49%, almost performing at the same level of the DAX, which was up 53%. Stocks, Europe 600 was up 39% and the European [ Stock market has ] generally grew by 16%. So the telecom stock has certainly done well compared to the DAX and the European stock market over the last 10 years. Deutsche Telekom is, by far, the most valuable European Telecom company. That having been said, we are, of course, not happy with developments over the last 12 months. And that is why we are working tirelessly to achieve better development for you all. Over the last 12 months, we've seen a lot of discussions especially in regard to the continued planning of our U.S. business. We've been talking to our U.S. investors, and we are also discussing our plans to invest more in fiber in Germany. Tim Hottges just said that this has meant that the analysts are heading for a target stock price of about EUR 20. And in March, we spoke at length with our American team on the further plans for the U.S. business, and we will, of course, be sharing more information with you in May at our Capital Markets Day. We got a question on the risks to the development of our share price. I would just like to refer you to the chapter Risks and Opportunity Management on Pages 118 to 134 of our annual report for last year, where we have a detailed explanation of the possible risks to our business. But -- and I'm at pains to point this out, we also cover the opportunities for our group. We had a question on whether we are considering buying back shares to help maintain our share price. On the 25th of May 2016, the Shareholders Meeting authorized us to buy back treasury shares up to a tune of 10% of our share capital. Today, we wish to ask new authorization to do. So this is point 7 of the agenda of the Shareholders Meeting. However, we believe that the dividend is our primary instrument for remunerating and rewarding shareholders. We also were asked whether we are considering a minority IPO in order to increase the cap, the value of Deutsche Telekom. But T-Mobile U.S. has already listed in its own right, OTE, Magyar Telekom [ Deutsche Telekom ] are 2. We will be verifying whether this makes sense over the next few months. We are a convergent provider. And so we believe that fragmenting the German business does not make sense. The Towers business is the #1 in Germany. It is well positioned in order to continue participating in the German growth market. Another question was on what we can learn from Google and Amazon. These companies are pursuing a very different business model than Deutsche Telekom. And so it is only possible to a very limited degree, to compare the 2 or the 3 in this case. We also got a question in connection with our initial offering of Telekom shares in 1996 and the communication strategy at the time. It is not unusual for a company to publicize corporate action involving a retail tranche. And we do not believe that this is in any way a negative thing. The IPO price at the time was based on the current state of the market at that time. General market fluctuations are not manageable to any great degree, by a company. In 2010, private investors accounted for 14% of our share capital by the end of 2020, that had gone up to 18%. So that share has actually gone up, not down. Mr. [ Virt ] referred to so-called gambles but we do not believe that these are impacting on our share. We don't know how many telecom shareholders made losses and to what extent. We also don't know how profitable their investments have because we don't have any information on that. We also don't have any information that would give rise to believing that there have been speculations or manipulations with our share price. Let me talk about the dividend now. We received a number of questions on dividends from [ Mr. Virt, Mr. Mana, Mr. Dubeck, Mr. Zella, Mr. Ploch, Mr. Mayer, Mr. Kutz, Mr. Kesten, Mr. Medstar, Mr. Oswald, Mr. Loman, Ms. Gable, Mr. Beckendorff, Daba, Immobilien, Gambia ] and a number of other shareholders that are not named here. Generally, the dividend, of course, should reflect the adjusted earnings per share, our minimum dividend is EUR 0.60. Let me say the following on the 2020 dividend. Our adjusted earnings per share 2020 has gone up 15%. This is mainly due to a nonoperative noncash earnings contribution relating to the valuation of our call options on shares of T-Mobile U.S. What about the outlook for 2021? We expect a decline in adjusted EPS. In addition, we need to consider the net debt of the group. The aim, of course, is to keep net debt across the group within a certain range. This range is defined by the ratio of adjusted EBITDA to net debt. Our comfortable range is EUR 2.25 to EUR 2.75. When we concluded the agreement on the merger between T-Mobile U.S. and Sprint, we announced that we're going to be leaving that range temporarily. The idea was to return to that range in the third year after the closing of the deal. At the end of the year 2020, that value was EUR 2.78 This is -- we believe that the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board feel that the dividend of EUR 0.06 for 2020 is appropriate considering the onetime impact on earnings and our current net debt. Of course, we want to return to our debt ratio as soon as we can. The main drivers here are increasing free cash flow of the T-Mobile U.S. We expect synergies of around EUR 7.5 billion, thanks to the merger of the 2 companies. The free cash flow in the U.S. business is expected to rise to between $13 billion and $14 billion until 2023, and their cash flow will go up to over $18 billion a year. This is a realistic way to return the debt ratio back to the intended range. What about the outlook on dividends? I would like to refer you to the respective chapter in the annual report and what Mr. Hottges just told you. Our dividend policy adjusted for 2019 foresees a minimum dividend of EUR 6 per dividend bearing shares. It will still continue to reflect the relative growth of our adjusted earnings per share. Mr. [ Beckendorff ] asked about our current dividend policy and whether it will continue into the year 2021. Yes, it will. We will be giving you an outlook on our dividend policy for the years after that on the Capital Markets Day on the 20th of May. As for the timing of the payout of the dividend, we believe that this day, the date of the shareholders' meeting is the most appropriate one for pay out the dividend. What about the fiscal deposit account? There's a number of factors that influence how long we can pay out the dividend from our fiscal deposit account without the deduction of capital gains tax, we believe that this will continue to be the case for the next few years. This means that there will be no deduction of capital gains tax on the dividend. Deutsche Telecom does not have any distributable profits as defined by Section 27 of Corporate Income Tax Act because the fiscal deposit account exceeds the carrying amount of equity. This has historical reasons, such as the privatization of Deutsche Telekom in the 1990s and the acquisition of T-Mobile U.S. using Telekom shares. This is a purely fiscal calculation. It conforms the German Tax Law and has nothing to do with our profit as recognized under the German Commercial Code or IFRS. We had another question on our plans regarding the so-called dividend in kind, the stock dividend as it's also called. We introduced the stock dividend option in 2013 for the business year 2012. This was a option for our shareholders, and we wanted it to give us the flexibility we needed at the time to make investments. There are disadvantages when it comes to stock dividends, the shares, of course, diluted. And you have an increase in the numbers of shares qualifying for the dividend and administratively, the work is more than a classic cash payout. And so we discontinued the stock dividend option in 2017 for the 2016 business year, and we are not planning to reintroduce it anytime soon. Finally, the [ cash de la ] payments office received EUR 700,500 for its work that it did in paying out the dividend. Back to Tim Hottges.

Yes so this brings me back to my favorite topic, the build-out of fiber optic cable. [ Mr. Natco, Mr. Vlasic, Mr. Berning, Mr. Brock, Mrs. Inga, Mr. Dutka, Mr. Halston, Mr. Brunel, Mr. Mattis from Diga Investment, Mr. and Ms. Zschech, Mr. Oswald, Mr. Rod Aker from Union Investment. Mr. Schmidt from DWS Investment; Mr. Keilman, Mr. Eckindorff from DWS, Ms. Gabler ] and other shareholders, who I won't name, pose a series of questions on the topic of the build-out. Just a basic note, telecom investment billions in infrastructure every year. This year, we're planning on an investment of EUR 18.4 billion alone in Germany, more than EUR 5.5 billion. Most of this investment is channeled into our infrastructure. And it's well invested. More than 34 million households in Germany have a fiber optic based connection from Deutsche Telekom. This allows access to bandwidth of at least 100 megabits per second, so-called FTTC connections. 26 million households have what's referred to as super vectoring. Super vectoring makes possible speeds of up to 250 megabits per second. One important aspect, however, is that customers also have to order these high bandwidths. So we assume that the next step will be that we pick up the pace of the build-out of these to the -- of this fiber optic cable to the household customers. And by 2030, every household in Germany is supposed to have the possibility to receive fiber optic connections either from telecom or our competitors. That's part of our mission for society. And after 25 years of regulation, we're going to do what is necessary to defend our market share. And of course, we will also meet our mission on behalf of society. But we will not be able to reach that goal the current regulatory framework. But we do compete with competitors. That's part of our fiber-optic strategy. We're open for cooperation with competitors and have already demonstrated in many territories of Germany that we're reliable partners. And that applies to national carriers as well as regional companies and local municipalities and utilities. So we provide our competitors our network. And at the same time, we purchase network services from competitors in order to supply more and more people with our Magenta products. And all market players profit from this cooperation on a voluntary basis, especially people in our country. Our next objective is to supply 10 million households with the possibility for an FTTH connection by 2024. And beginning at that time, we expand and build out FTTH households by 2.5 million a year. And that applies to urban and rural areas. That's how we will live up to our very important task of supplying a sophisticated digital infrastructure for our population. One special aspect of fiber optics is supplying our schools with fast Internet. Here, we're really going full steam ahead, and we're supporting continuing education of teachers as best we can. But because of red tape and bureaucratic impediments there's, of course, a delay sometimes. And there's -- yes, it's like house to house fighting because there's different regulations in the different lender. And some areas that the question that we received, whether 5G mobile telecommunications can be replaced in areas that don't have enough fixed network supplies. The clear answer is no today. We had 20 million in 2020, and we want to supply 5 million more in 2024. So that's the headline for Deutsche Telekom. We want to supply every household with fiber optics. Mr. [ Mattis ] asked several questions about how our customers are accepting fiber optic connections. I can say in response that demand is increasing continuously every year. Wherever we offer high bandwidth, more than 50% of our customers are ordering broadband connections of 100 megabits or more. Regarding the question about which products are -- there is a major demand for our broadband offer about to 250 megabits. Our Magenta TV offer with additional streaming products like Netflix and Disney are gaining more customers for Telekom and for the competition right now. Above all this, we offer MagentaEINS. It's a very unique product in the market. And finally, regarding the question of our fiber optic build-out, the objective of supplying every household in Germany with fiber optics can't be achieved by Telekom alone. We're optimistic that our competition will also make their contribution to the build-out in Germany. And we're open to the rest of the market for cooperation under fair conditions. And the keyword here is reciprocity. We want to pay the same price for using others' infrastructure as they pay for us. So the federal government has a program to support and subsidize build-out where it's uneconomical for companies. At the same time, the market -- important not to flood the market with this kind of -- these subsidies as it would have an impact on the price and also affect our incentives for the build-out. So another question was in -- when will fiber optics be available in [ Hoistviler ]? Deutsche Telekom is in charge of the build-out in [ Hoistvilar ] in order -- because we're cooperating with Deutsche Glasfaser, we're able to -- we will soon be able to offer our products there. Mr. [ Keilman ] asked about our own build-out of fiber optics. Investment in the network infrastructure is very complex and you can only really assess it over a longer period of time. For example, the frequencies for the 5G build-out were already purchased in 2019. In addition, in the course of the expansion of the 5G network last year, also the LTE network was expanded. So build out of fiber optics is similarly complex, but we want to invest at present in, yes, future technologies, if only just to remain competitive. Mr. [ Schmidt ] asked about the obstacles to build out of fiber optics. Well, one, is building regulations, which frequently provide for fiber optics to be laid at a minimum depth. If the cables are laid at a more shallow level through so called micro-test trenching, that's not allowed. So in addition, also the building permits for laying the fiber optics is very involved and very complicated. And you often have to have the approval of owners of properties to lay fiber optics from the street into the household. And so something like trenching would make it possible to speed things up at more economical prices, for example. One question about Mr. [ Beckendorff ] related to the build out of fiber optics. In order to accelerate the build out of FTTH, we will be boosting investment from currently EUR 1.2 billion to EUR 2 billion per year. And in order to make it as efficient as possible, we'll continue to cooperate with other players. And that will play an important role in the build-out strategy of telecom. Question by Ms. [ Gabler ] on the topic of network capacity utilization with voice connections. It's 50% higher, and data volumes are 30% to 40% higher in -- during -- as a result of the corona period. There was no directly corresponding breakdowns in networks or fluctuations or problems, and this is due above all to the fact that our network -- we made it through this whole pandemic without any breakdowns, and that wasn't the case with the competition. And one shareholder asked about whether the campaign, More Broadband For Me, was all about -- this is -- these are fiber optic offers in FTTH areas. The biggest cost item here is burial to bring the fiber optics into the house. It's not possible to really state a general cost or price for this. But overall, we're too slow in adapting our technology to modern cabling technologies. The whole bureaucratic procedures have to be -- may have to be characterized by less red tape. And Srini Gopalan, our very successful European Head of the German business, said he has 3 priorities: fiber optics, fiber optic and fiber optic. So this brings me to the next chapter. One question on mobile telecommunications was sent in by Mr. [ Zeller ], Mr. [ Matthias ] from Deka Investment, Mr. [ Oswald ] from [indiscernible] Capital [indiscernible], Mr. [ Beckendorff ] from DSW, Ms. [ Gabler ] and other shareholders whose name I won't mention. Just let me say, in just general terms regarding the topic of mobile telecommunications expansion. I would note that telecom is building more than 1,500 new LTE and 5G locations per year. In addition, we are expanding our performance at existing sites. This applies to urban areas as well as rural ones to improve mobile telecommunications. We're cooperating with competitors, too. We have agreed to close these gaps in coverage throughout Germany by using currently existing infrastructure in the world. If we receive approval, we could build up to 2,000 more sites a year. At the world level, we're investing EUR 18.4 billion this year, more than EUR 5.5 billion alone in Germany. This pays off to -- and Germany will reach a milestone in coverage in mobile communications soon. Or recently, we reached it. Now we cover 80% of the population with 5G and 90% by the end of the year is probably what we'll achieve. And as the next stage, so that's significantly more than our competitors. Our customers perceive us as the 5G market leader and are actively asking about 5G. And so we're able to offer very attractive tariffs in this area like MagentaMobil with 5G as part of the package and 5G-capable smartphones as well. Deutsche Telekom is investing on a massive scale in the development of the 5G network, both in terms of network coverage as well as an improvement in network functions. The aim and objective is to leverage new functions that are associated with 5G stand-alone, including so-called network slicing. These are ultra-reliable communication with a low latency or reaction period and quality of service offers. That's another significant aspect of 5G. In addition to generation of more sources of income, also operating costs for our current networks have been reduced, and we're taking out of commission older -- costly older systems and replacing these with advanced technologies. That reduces electrical consumption and improves the profitability of the company. That build out of 5G throughout the country is being -- is -- well, the next step is the 5G evolution. We'll do everything we can to optimize 5G and make it better. Mr. [ Matthias ] asked about the status of our 5G build out and the technology we use. The build-out technology was only possible through the innovative use of so-called dynamic spectrum sharing. Existing antennas don't have to be revamped, which costs a lot. It's sufficient to upgrade the antennas to do -- to operate 5G. Also, fewer new sites are necessary to expand the network. That saves time and money. The build out of 5G throughout the country is, therefore, taking place on the basis of this dynamic spectrum sharing technology. Another question by Mr. [ Matthias ] related to mobile communications. With the help of dynamic spectrum sharing, 4G and 5G can be operated parallel to one another on the 2.1 gigahertz frequency band. For 5G users, speeds of up to 800 megabits per second are possible. For our LTE customers, the available Internet speed, it's also increased by use of additional frequency. With pure 5G build out on 3.6 gigahertz frequency, speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second are achievable. And we're building out both of them, both 3.6 and 2.1 frequency ranges. That creates capacities and allows us to cover a lot of territory fast. Another question from Mr. [ Matthias ] related to the topics of O-RAN and Huawei. Now regarding the topic of O-RAN, the launch and use of open RAN, and that stands for the access network, makes possible competitive and dynamic ecosystem by RAN providers. And over the medium term, this open RAN and the efficiency of RAN implementation as well as the operating costs for mobile network operators will improve. Main disadvantage of open RAN is the increased complexity in the integration of RAN components from different manufacturers. Automation is the key here in order to be able to cope with this. Regarding the topic of Huawei, as has often been stated, we purchase mobile communications technology and equipment from a whole host of different manufacturers. At the same time, with a view to the political discussion in Germany that began in 2019, we have decided to phase Chinese suppliers out of the core network where there are critical security issues. Where we are able to use components from competitors, we would like to keep these for us with a view to the competition, and that's probably in the interest of their shareholders, too. But in the antenna access network, only the same manufacturers can be used in moving from -- in 5G components, moving these to 4G components. And that's why Telekom uses the 5G build out in antenna network suppliers, Ericsson, Nokia and Huawei. We're evaluating all our manufacturers and suppliers in terms of their ability to supply us given the current geopolitical situation and the COVID-19 crisis. Another question relates to our statement, best network and its origin. The advertising statements are based on external mobile communication tests such as [ Connect Mobile's ] mobile phone test 2021 and the [ Magazine Chip's ] mobile communications tests for 2020 and 2021. And we want to continue to do our own measurements to evaluate our performance. We are working continuously to improve our mobile communication supply. Another question related to the supply requirements with the mobile communication standard, LTE. In Germany, the LTE network of telecom covered 98.1% of households at the end of 2019. So the supply requirements of the Federal Network Agency from the frequency auction in 2015 have been met. Regarding the question of network build out for 1&1 Drillisch. This hasn't begun yet, and it will take several years until networks from customers outside of urban areas can be used. 1 plus 1 (sic) [ 1&1 ] Drillisch announced that only 25% of the population would be supplied by 2025 and 50% by 2030 with its own network. Thus, 1&1 Drillisch over the long term will have to make use of the network of Telefónica, that so called national roaming. And that's already the case today because 1&1 Drillisch also has to earn to pay for the additional cost for network build out. We do not expect to price competition to become more intense there. Another question related to the cost of past frequency auctions in the auction in 2019 for 5G frequency in the 2.1 gigahertz and 3.6 gigahertz, areas German -- Deutsche Telekom invested around EUR 2.17 billion, regarding a question about the sites for our 5G antennas. These antennas, for the most part, are operated at the sites of the Funkturm Gesellschaft, which is 100% owned by Deutsche Telekom AG. So that was the block of questions relating to mobile communications. And I'm going to take a little breather here and do a 5G test. Maybe you can see this. We have a 1-gig transmission rate here with a 3.6-gigahertz antenna. So we're not just talking about a theoretical exercise here. That's what's happening. 898 was the download speed, which brings me to sustainability. We've received several questions on the subject. Among others from Mr. [ Sheffer ], Mr. [ Matthias ] from Union Invest. Mr. [ Rotaca ], Mr. [ Beckendorff ] from DSW, Mr. [ Abel ] as well as other shareholders, who I will not mention by name. First of all, on a general note, we look at ourselves as a responsible company, which is also embedded in our group strategy. We are committed to sustainable actions. And in this way, we want to make a contribution to solving the ecological, economic and social challenges of our time. In Germany, customers have been serving on the green telecom network since the beginning of 2020, which is run using 100% of electricity from renewables. Our next goal is to reduce our carbon emissions by 90% compared to 2017 by 2030. We are convinced that long-term growth can only be achieved if we take on responsibility as entrepreneurs and meet the social and ecological challenges. So we believe that sustainability will pay off. And all group units from Telekom will benefit from it, including our shareholders. Now let me turn to the individual questions. We received one question on the rollout of our charging infrastructure for electric cars. Yes, we are continuing to expand it at the moment. We have more than 150 sites all over Germany, hence, making a major contribution to the mobility transition. And last year, we made it possible to save carbon emissions by 3,700 tonnes. Another question referred to the standard printing paper. It is certified with the Blue Angel an ecolabel, and it accounts for around 90% of all our printing operations. Our paper from central printing operations, including mandatory communications, invoices, et cetera, is fully printed on recycling paper. The invitations to the shareholders' meetings have been sent using FSC-certified paper for years. And you can actively support this by receiving your invoices online and by having your shareholder's meetings documents sent to you electronically. Next year, we will send out far fewer documents. Another question was on the energy mix that we are using. Our group is buying green electricity from different sources in 2020. Green electricity accounted for 52%, and it is used from water power and wind power. However, 40% of our green power comes from so called power purchase agreements, or PPAs. These are demand-driven electricity supply contracts, which are concluded directly between power plant operators and large companies such as ours. And in this way, we can make sure that we always get green electricity. One PPA is -- was done with the solar park in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. We want to systematically expand that share of PPAs. And at the moment, we are also directly buying 8% of green electricity. Mr. [ Matthias ] asked, to what extent today's financial forecast from Deutsche Telekom is based on the targets of the Paris Agreement? Deutsche Telekom has fully considered the implementation of ambitious climate protection goals in accordance with the Paris Agreement and its medium-term financial planning. This particularly holds true for investments in more efficient technologies and mobility solutions as well as the conversion of -- to electricity from renewables and the implementation of our GreenMagenta program. Mr. [ Matthias ] also asked whether we are in line with a possible supply chain act and whether we are monitoring our supply chains. Deutsche Telekom is well prepared for a possible new supply chain act. Even today, comprehensive social standards have been established, which make sure that we can comply with human rights and the processes of good governance. As for the monitoring of supply chains, when selecting new suppliers, our sustainability requirements play a major role. As we continue our cooperation, we will rely on dedicated self-assessments from our suppliers and risk assessments. The compliance with our basic principles, including compliance with human rights, is regularly monitored using so called social audits. Let me turn to a question on the cost benefit metrics in the sustainability area. Deutsche Telekom regularly monitors the level of ambition of all the various parameters, including nonfinancial KPIs and targets. And we always adapt our parameters in consideration of the associated costs and the expected benefit. Mr. [ Beckendorff ] asked about our KPIs for measuring the energy and emission intensities. Pleasantly, these KPIs decreased over the past few years. However, the development of such indicators is subject to various fluctuations, including technological development cycles. As far as energy intensity is concerned, we see an effect from the integration of Sprint in the U.S. in 2020. As a result of the measures that we are working on, we will continue to improve efficiency, and these targets will also be used for -- to determine the level of target achievement of the Board members. Mr. [ Abel ] asked about climate friendliness and resource efficiency of our fleet and the associated information in the CR report. The essential factor for inclusion in the telecom portfolio are positive total workforce costs, including sustainable criteria, such as a good carbon emissions value and compliance with the latest emissions rules. You also asked about training and training offered specifically to drivers. Unfortunately, due to corona, there were no such training sessions together with the automotive providers in the past year. Then you asked about the tires used by Telekom. At the moment, we are not using revamped tires in our fleet. As for transparency, we are reporting on the most important fleet data in a transparent way. The CR report includes information on our annual systematic materiality analysis. Based on this analysis, we provide an ample report on the number of vehicles and fuel emissions. Mr. [ Abel ] then asked about the share of so called cradle-to-cradle products. As part of our activities for resource protection, our way to a circular economy is of particular importance. For instance, we are offering our customers renewed media receivers and routers, which basically come back to us using a leasing model. We also introduced a sustainable smartphone circle because customers can give us their old smartphones, if they like. However, we cannot come up with a specific figure. Mr. [ Abel ] also wanted to know whether we can -- whether we are using sustainable materials for building towers. Deutsche Telekom is pursuing a sustainability strategy. When it comes to building new mobile towers, we need to comply with various regulatory provisions regarding structural stability. And this means that we can only use alternative materials such as timber in a limited way. Then Mr. [ Abel ] asked about solar energy and energy efficiency in our facility management. Procurement and power generation are organized locally in the group. All major group units are working to continuously increase the share of electricity from solar and wind power. Wherever it makes sense to technically upgrade our buildings, we are doing it. As for the question regarding Deutsche Telekom's entire power consumption in 2020, this amounted to 2,718 gigawatt hours. The energy supply of Deutsche Telekom AG in Germany is Power & Air Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG. We've received many questions on the investment portfolio, among others, from Mr. [ Down ], Mrs. and Mr. [ Louis ], Mr. [ Stephens ], Mr. [ Klassen ], Mr. [ Fluger ], Mr. [ Matthias ] from Deka, Mr. [ Beckendorff ] from DSW, Mr. [ Bullman ] from SDK, Mrs. [ Rotaca ] and other shareholders that I will not mention by name. On a general note, whenever we are changing our portfolio, it is designed to sustainably increase the value at Deutsche Telekom. This is consistently being monitored, and it can mean that we decide to sell certain companies or activities, such as in Romania last year, or in the event of the sale of our mobile towers in the Netherlands. But it may also lead to acquisitions, such as the acquisition of Tele2 in the Netherlands or that we are merging companies, such as T-Mobile US. Now as for your questions, Mr. [ Matthias ] asked how the investment portfolio in Europe is developing. In Europe, we always want to ensure the best convergent customer experience that comprises fixed network and mobile communications, meaning, in addition to the organic rollout, we always monitor the opportunities for acquisitions, for instance, in Hungary and the Czech Republic in the past. Now a question on the sale of Telekom Romania. The decision to sell Telekom Romania is subject to regulatory approval that we are expecting for the second quarter this year. It was a strategic decision. And in the meantime, we have set up a mobile business in such a way that it has become competitive. We've received several questions on Deutsche Funkturm. DFMG is responsible for our business with mobile towers in Germany, and it was spun off as a separate company as early as 2002. We also spun off our Austrian and Dutch mobile towers to separate entities. Leasing such towers to third party is always based on market conditions. Around 25% of the disclosed revenues from our mobile towers are generated together with competitors in mobile communications. And we regularly examine options on how to improve the value of our portfolio. The next question was on the sale of our tower business in the Netherlands. There were 2 targets, primarily in this context. First of all, we got an excellent valuation of the business, and we use the proceeds in order to provide initial funding for the infrastructure fund, or DIV. Then there was the question of whether we looked into a possible IPO. And another question was, what is the value of our mobile towers in Germany? The answer -- and in the Netherlands, around EUR 12 billion. The next question was whether it might make sense to pool all mobile activities as a preparation for a subsequent IPO. We are firmly convinced that convergent products should remain at the heart of our strategy, and that's why such a measure is not being planned. And in this business, convergence has not quite progressed as much. In the U.S., we already have an IP -- we already did the IPO. The next question referred to a possible spin-off of T-Systems. T-Systems is an integral part of the group. T-Systems supports large corporate customers. It is now focusing on IT services because we spun off the telecommunication services to Telekom Deutschland. T-Systems' transformation was kicked off in 2016 and will be continued consistently. The next question is what will happen with our BT Group investment? It was spun-off to pension assets. Over the past few months, the BT share rose by around 30%. And once the situation regarding optical fiber in the United States has clarified, we believe that this positive trend will continue.

Now let's talk about taxes and tax havens. We received several questions in this context, including on tax havens. Mr. [ Dubach ] and Mr. [ Oswald ], for instance, asked questions. Mr. [ Dubach ]asked about foreign subsidiaries. And he said that it might be a good idea for us to check whether we, as a corporation, may lead to tax evasion. However, this is not based on where our company is actually located. It depends on where we are generating our business. So that would be Germany for the German business and the U.S. for our U.S. business. That's what the taxation is always based upon. And according to German tax laws, there is no possibility even to dodge taxes. Another question was whether we are keeping our shares in T-Mobile US via a holding in the Netherlands and whether this is for tax reasons. Well, this was actually a development over time. And there are several reasons. It goes back to the 1990s. So far, we have not benefited from that in terms of taxation. Mr. [ Oswald ] says that he actually asked several questions, which more or less aimed at asking whether Deutsche Telekom is using any tax havens to shift profits from A to B. The answer is no, Mr. [ Oswald ], that is not the case. Deutsche Telekom is not using any phantom companies in tax havens or any other artificial entities. Which brings me to Tim Hottges, and he will talk about T-Mobile US.

So that is all happening very fast now. Let me now turn to the questions from [ Paul Allen McIntyre ], [indiscernible] Mr. [ Oswald ], Mr. [ Bullman ], [ Wolfgang Kutzner ] from [ DTB ] Investment Club, Mr. [ Beckendorff ] from DSW. Mr. [ Oswald ], it is true that many years ago, Deutsche Telekom was not satisfied with the performance of T-Mobile US. And it is true that in 2011, Deutsche Telekom entered into negotiations with a competitor, AT&T. However, due to a veto from the U.S. American DOJ and FCC, a transaction did not come about at the time. With hindsight, we count ourselves lucky that the sale didn't go through back then. I would like to remind you that AT&T back then paid a so called breakup fee amounting to $6 billion to us that we used to make the investment gap at T-Mobile US much smaller, and that actually marked the start of the turnaround. In addition, since 2013, our U.S. business and T-Mobile has continuously developed positively following the reverse merger with MetroPCS and the new management team led by the then CEO, John Legere. We were able to significantly gain new market share and to clearly improve the financial position of the company. And for many years, there have been many reports about that in the press. The T-Mobile 5G network has now become the fastest and biggest network in the U.S. with the best network coverage. I mean, think about it. This is a network that previously was not represented all over Germany. And then we actually outperformed our major competitors and offer the best network. Why did it take so long until the merger with Sprint went through? Well, it took some time and previous attempts failed because of the demands of the Sprint main shareholder, SoftBank. So it was actually an advantage for Telekom and its shareholders to wait in order to get better conditions for the transaction. So we created value by waiting. Mr. [ McIntyre ] would like to gain an overview of the plannings at T-Mobile US for the next couple of years. And the question was whether we are considering a sale of T-Mobile US. Mr. [ McIntyre ], ever since we set up T-Mobile US anew, the company has developed more successfully than any other company in our industry. Recently, the company had 102 million mobile customers, the so called branded postpaid and prepaid customers. And with that, T-Mobile US already outperformed its big rival, AT&T, and is now attacking the current incumbent, Verizon. T-Mobile is mainly leveraging the value potential from the continued rollout of the best nationwide 5G network in the U.S. On the basis of the merger with Sprint, we can use the 2.5 gigahertz frequencies. So we've got more capacities and therefore, higher bandwidth. At the Capital Markets Day in mid-March of this year, the T-Mobile US management presented the plans of the company, which are very ambitious for the next 5 years. T-Mobile US is aiming at strong growth in several additional market segments, for instance, in rural areas. In the business customer segment, T-Mobile US is planning to boost the market share of 10% to around 20% over the next 5 years. In early March, the company issued a special offer called WFH solutions, so working from wherever you are. It is designed to fit the needs of business customers and it comprises Internet solutions and business applications. In the home broadband segment, the company is expecting to gain 0.5 million customers by the end of 2021. By 2025, the number of broadband customers at home is set to rise from 7 million to 8 million customers. And this will likely come with very positive margins because the current cost structure can be used for WiFi networks. The ARPU, average revenue per customer, and the churn potential is comparable to that of a mobile contract customers. While at the same time, device costs are lower. So we have a much better outlook for T-Mobile US, and this is based on a strong positioning of T-Mobile US in the market for 5G services. Thanks to the 2.5 gigahertz licenses that we gained in connection with the merger with Sprint, the 5G network of T-Mobile US is the fastest and biggest one in the U.S. In addition, T-Mobile US has acquired additional 5G licenses in the recent C-band frequency auction for urban and suburban regions. By reinforcing the leading 5G network, T-Mobile is safeguarding its strong market and competitive position, which is important because the cable network operators are also penetrating the mobile segment. T-Mobile US also raised the expected cash value that arises from estimated synergies from the Sprint transaction. And they rose the number from $43 billion to more than $60 billion. In the medium term, the company intends to achieve cost and investment synergies of around $7.5 billion. Previously, the budget figure for that was $6 billion free cash flow. So the money that's left, ultimately, will amount to $13 billion to $14 billion in 2023 and more than $18 billion in 2026. These tremendous cash flows make it possible for the company to consistently bring its net debt down over the period in question. And it also offers the potential to give something back to the shareholders, i.e., including us. Following the statements from -- of T-Mobile US at Capital Markets Day, such payouts to shareholders will only come about if the net-to-EBITDA ratio decreases to around 2.5. So first of all, we will leverage the synergies, bring net debt down, and then there's a payback. The paybacks to shareholders do not mean that debt will increase. We would only issue such paybacks once the level of debt has been brought down. And of course, that also means that we are decreasing the level of debt here. For the years 2023 to 2025, T-Mobile US is expecting that this positive financial planning could lead to payouts to the shareholders of $60 billion. $60 billion. The exact amount and the exact timing of such repayments to shareholders has not yet been established. And we don't know how exactly this will take place, whether we will be using share buybacks or other instruments. Deutsche Telekom is the main shareholder of T-Mobile US, and therefore, we can considerably benefit from such shareholder remuneration. So that's important. It wouldn't be possible to invest so much money in optical fiber in Germany if we weren't able to leverage all these synergies in the U.S. So we are not in a situation where T-Mobile US needs to do a trade-off between reducing net debt or paying money back to the shareholders. On the contrary, both things will be combined. Now let me turn to a question from Mr. [ Matthias ] and Mr. [ Kutz ]. He asked about the option of increasing our investment in T-Mobile US from 44% of shares to 50%. On the 22nd of June 2020, we entered into an agreement with the Japanese corporation, SoftBank, which also includes a purchase option for T-Mobile shares amounting to 101 million. This safeguards access to the majority of capital at T-Mobile US in the long run. At the same time, we enabled the immediate sale of around 198 million in T-Mobile US shares. The share of SoftBank in T-Mobile US was reduced by around 8% as part of that. And as a result of the sale, the share of T-Mobile US shares that we were able to exercise using our voting rights decreased to around 52.5% as of the 5th of August 2020. So we continue to have access to the majority of votes at T-Mobile US. The purchase options for the T-Mobile shares held by SoftBank can be exercised until the 22nd of June 2024. And SoftBank is subject to a so called lockup until the end of 2024, which means that they cannot sell their T-Mobile US shares before that, which means that as part of our purchase option, we can decide any time if and when we want to buy the 8% of T-Mobile shares from SoftBank. $45 million of this purchase option can be exercised at a price of $101.50 per share. The current share price of T-Mobile is $125. So you can see that this is a very strong option. The remaining $57 million of this purchase option can be exercised based on the market price. So let me sum up. T-Mobile US is the strongest growing component of our portfolio. Our agreement with SoftBank following the T-Mobile US and Sprint merger, ensures that we hold the majority of votes and are prepared for the full consolidation of T-Mobile US by mid of 2024. Our goal is to continue participating in the positive trend of T-Mobile US. We regularly monitor our investment in T-Mobile US, considering strategic and financial aspects, including the possible option to increase our share, our stake. And like I said, we also have the option to increase our capital share in T-Mobile US. By mid 2024, we would still be able to acquire shares from SoftBank as part of a call option. To date, we have not adopted a resolution on that. And we have -- nor have we issued a statement as to whether we are planning a capital increase. Please bear with us, but we are not going to comment on that today. There is no time pressure, and we will regularly examine or check on our decisions under strategic and financial viewpoints. At the same time, we are very focused to returning to our target range with our debt-to-EBITDA ratio. Starting in mid-2024, SoftBank is authorized to sell T-Mobile shares, but Deutsche Telekom holds a right of first refusal on such shares. One question referred to the management of T-Mobile US. I understood Mr. [ Oswald's ] question such that he wanted to know whether SoftBank would be able to intervene in the business of T-Mobile US because it is a co-shareholder. The answer is no. SoftBank only holds a stake of just under 9% at the moment, which means that they cannot interfere with the decisions of the Board of Directors on day-to-day business. Mr. [ Oswald ], at T-Mobile US, unlike at Deutsche Telekom, where we have a Board of Management and a Supervisory Board, we only have one committee, which is the Board of Directors. And it has 10 members, which were appointed by Deutsche Telekom. And 7 of them are employees of Deutsche Telekom AG. These members are Tim Hottges, which is myself; Christian Illek; Thorsten Langheim; and Dominique Leroy. One question was whether this might be the ideal time to actually sell T-Mobile US shares. Of course, it would be our obligation to examine any possible offer, but this would not be an ideal time to sell off the shares of T-Mobile US because we believe that we will see a further increase in the share -- in the value generated in the U.S., and we will participate in it. And the capital markets are looking at the transaction in a 100% positive way. Before the transaction was announced in 2018, the T-Mobile share price stood at around $65. That was in 2018, and it has now risen to around $125 or almost 90%. And the higher share price reflects the excellent development of the company and the excellent prospects for the company, which were presented at the recent Capital Markets Day. So this was a very complex transaction and a very successful one. And we need to hedge this option, which is below the market price. We owe this to Thorsten Langheim and his team. They did a great job in making this possible. And the operating management team has been in place for about a year under the management of Mike Sievert. It's a young team, and they are continuing the success story, which was kicked off by the previous management team. But we now have a fresh and new team in the U.S., which is responsible for implementing our strategy there. Okay. And now we move into space, ladies and gentlemen. From the rocket, we now go into space. There were a number of questions concerning the topic, Internet from space, come from Mrs. [ Frieda ], Mr. [ Pumba ], Mr. [ Shubar ], Mr. [ Schulze ], Mr. [ Tilburn ], Mr. [ Dellen ], Mr. [ Kesten ], Mr. [ Rose ] now and other shareholders. Our look at Starlink from a strategic perspective. New technologies always have their special incentive for companies because they open up new possibilities. This is why we are open for cooperations with other market participants if these enable our technologies and our portfolio, add to our portfolio or also make it possible to have efficiencies, for example, in the field of infrastructure expansion. Starlink of Elon Musk is one of many potential partners in the field of satellite communications. The company is, at present, enjoying high press coverage, probably also because of the founder. I could also mention Eutelsat or OneWeb. One shareholder is asking in this context, whether the space-based satellite network planned by Lockheed Martin Corp. and Omnispace, LLC is more disruptive than the Starlink project of SpaceX. No, from our point of view, it's not. The constellations just address different users. Based on the characteristics of these bridge technologies, we do see opportunities to also ensure good coverage also in remote areas. Starlink is making progress. For the first time, recently, 100 megabit per second were measured downstream. And Deutsche Telekom itself has had positive results when testing with -- when doing tests with a mobile provider from the stratosphere, and we see this as an addition to our restrict network, and it's only Deutsche Telekom that invests into these technologies and works on these technologies to have these new disruptive technologies, even if it's difficult, financially speaking. But whether these technologies actually achieve market maturity is something that we'll see in the future. Our strategy will not be changed by these projects. We want to be leading in technology with integrated gigabit networks. Already today, Deutsche Telekom is using satellite technology of our partners in order to provide connections for our customers. For example, in the context of the European aviation network for broadband Internet in aircraft. And we also accompany the development of new networks and technologies in the HAPS Alliance. Regarding the question whether we plan our own telecommunications satellite lights, no, not at present. And just to describe the context, Starlink is neither preferred nor selected by us, and we don't see it as very beneficial. The message that I want to convey is that we always have to be open for innovation and new technologies, and we have to think about whether this is substituting or additional technology for what we are offering today. And we have to be open at all times, and this is something that I was talking about. It's not about a short-term deal or anything else or just one partner, but we want to focus on a variety of different technologies. Let's now move on to the topic of the virtual shareholders' meeting. Questions were raised by Mr. [ Fealing ], Mr. [ Kutz ], Mr. [ Eckhart ], Mr. [ Ruof ], Mr. [ Oswald ], Ms. [ Franke ], Mr. and Mrs. [ Wolfe ], Mr. [ Schmidt ], Ms. [ Gabler ], Mr. [ Weiden Muller ] and other shareholders. The first question is the cost of today's shareholders' meeting. The cost for today's meeting is between EUR 2.8 million and EUR 3 million. The costs are mainly caused by printing and sending out the documents for the shareholders' meeting. In 2020, the costs also were a total of EUR 3 million. Personal meeting would cost us around EUR 5 million. So we are saving EUR 2 million because of the virtual format. Mr. [ Eckhart ] asked what additional costs we have to pay for media service providers and the Internet dialogue. With the media service provider, cost was EUR 280,000; the Internet dialogue, EUR 300,000. Ms. [ Rubrick ] asks whether we can have the next shareholders' meetings in Nuremberg. For organizational and cost reasons, we will always have it close to our headquarters here in Bonn, so it's not possible. Mr. [ Kutz ] asks why he cannot send his registration to the shareholders' meeting via fax. We offer a number of possibilities to send the reply, but we didn't think that the fax was used very often any longer. And Mr. [ Oswald ] asks, why it's not possible to also ask questions via letter or fax. The law requires electronic communication. We have provided our Internet dialogue for this. So for legal reasons, it's not possible to send us questions via fax or via letter. Mr. [ Eckhart ] and Mr. [ Oswald ] asked regarding the possible restriction of shareholders' rights in a virtual shareholders' meeting and asked us about our considerations, how we want to have the shareholders' meetings in the coming years. In the shareholders' meeting, the shareholders take essential decisions, and we want to have a good exchange with you. But unfortunately, the pandemic makes it necessary to find new ways of meeting. But nevertheless, we want to have a format that makes it possible for the shareholders to take essential decisions. The legislator made it possible to use virtual shareholders' meetings last year. And there, drew a balance between practical reasons and the legal certainty, and it was said that it's possible -- legally possible to have virtual shareholders' meetings. We all hope that the pandemic will be over soon, that we can meet again in a physical meeting so that we can have a better exchange with you. Mr. [ Oswald ] said that when we are answering questions, we always point to the annual report. Yes, this is true. We do this in order to enable an efficient meeting and a lot of information, almost everything, is visible in the annual report. Mr. and Mrs. [ Wolfe ] asked why the Board of Management suggests to vote against Item 11 on the agenda referring to future legal regulations. And Mr. [ Weiden Muller ] asked whether the changes in the articles of incorporation couldn't be valid as long as the pandemic lasts. We think we need a legal agreement that is applicable to all stock operations. And this leads me to a question by Mr. [ Fealing ]. You asked to have the documents for the next shareholders' meeting as short and simple as possible. But the scope and the content of the invitation, of course, is also based on the topics to be discussed in the meeting. The content of the documents is mainly determined by legal requirements, and we always try to keep it as short as possible, but we also have to have it in the proper way from a legal perspective. Ms. [ Franke ] had a question concerning the dispatch and the sending of the documents. We sent out the documents in due time on the 4th of March. If, in some cases, the delivery is delayed, we apologize. Registration has been published in the Federal Gazette on the 26th of February. The Internet dialogue has been available since the 3rd of March 2021. Mr. [ Kutz ] asked why it's not possible to show all the questions in the shareholders' portal. If this is not possible, then there would be some difficulties with the format. It's not our intention. Also, a question why there is no automatic reply or automatic confirmation of the sending. It's normally done in the Internet dialogue, and you can also find overview of all the questions submitted. Mr. [ Wolfe ] asked a question concerning the graphical presentation of the Internet dialogue. The websites are developed using the so called responsive design. This means that they are shown differently in different end devices. One shareholder asked regarding the registrations for shareholder meetings in 2019, '20 and '21. In 2019, we had 109,101 shareholders. In 2020, 104,739. And in this year, it was 109,832. I would like to thank all the shareholders that they followed us into the virtual world. Mrs. [ Gabler ] asked about the delay in the transmission of the shareholders and whether this is taken into account in the schedule. The delay is about 60 minutes -- 60 seconds, sorry, and it was taken into account in the schedule. Then there was a question whether guests were admitted. No. Then there was a question, who is -- which external law firm is supporting us. It's the law firm, is Allen & Overy. Then there was a question, how many employees are busy with answering the questions? It's about 20 people in the coordinating functions. The next question is, what is the time effort to answer a question? We do not measure this explicitly, and this is why I cannot give you a clear answer. Then there was a question concerning the language used during the shareholders' meeting. It's a shareholders' meeting based on German law, and this means that we have to use German. Then there was a question concerning technical transmission. The transmission is on the Internet with bandwidth between 500 kilobits and 5 megabits per second. And this depends on the bandwidth available to the spectators, and we also have qualified technicians monitoring and ensuring the technical stability of the platform. We produce and transmit all these signals in line with European Standard, EBU, and this also ensures the synchronicity between image and sound. And now I hand over to Mr. Lehner regarding the Board management compensation.

Dear shareholders, we received a number of questions on Item 9 of today's shareholders' meeting. This is the item dealing with a new compensation system for the Board of Management. The Supervisory Board has developed a new compensation system in line with the requirements of the new Stock Corporation Act and the recommendations of the German corporate governance code. And we also made comparisons with other listed companies in Germany, DAX 30 and other companies in the telecommunications industry. And we also take into account the compensation structures within Deutsche Telekom itself. Additionally, the Supervisory Board also had a number of discussions with investors and proxy advisers when developing the compensation system in order to find out their view on a compensation system. I already reported on this. As a result, the Supervisory Board is now suggesting an adequate, transparent and clearly understandable compensation system that supports Deutsche Telekom in being the leading European telecommunications company and also stay this for being -- for the next future. Let me come to the questions. One question by Mr. [ Pavlita ] regarded -- was regarding the scope and the amount of the Board of Management compensation. Mr. [ Pavlita ], please bear with us, but we cannot show the entire compensation system. And we cannot explain all the details here in the shareholders' meeting after it was already published. In the invitation to the shareholders' meeting under Item 9, we have 26 pages, between Pages 40 and 65, to describe the compensation system for the Board of Management. The current compensation for the business year 2020 can be seen in the compensation report on Pages 138 to 148 of the annual report, another 11 pages. The new compensation system is shown using charts, tables, examples and explanations. The description is fully transparent. We didn't hide anything, and we don't have anything to hide. Our presentation of the compensation for the Board of Management is based on the relevant requirements and recommendations of the code. Mr. [ Oswald ], the German Corporate Governance Code requires a presentation of the compensation and how the compensation can develop based on the minimum and maximum parts of variable compensations. And we also need to report the compensation paid in the current business year. In both tables, you can see the ancillary services and also the service costs for old-age provision, and German GAAP also requires a description of the net present value at the time when the share-based components are granted. It is absolutely impossible to show all the necessary information on 2 pages only unless we had very, very small print, but then you would be unable to read this. The presentation of our data is not different from the presentation of other DAX 30 companies. The tables regarding the flow and the granting of compensation to the management board based on the German Corporate Governance Code fill 2 pages. So it's not possible to make all the presentations in 2 pages. We changed the compensation system for the Board of Management. And because this was necessary based on changed requirements, it's about the new requirements of the German Corporate Governance Code and the changes in the Stock Corporation Act based on our [ ROC 2 ]. The Supervisory Board was very happy with the previous compensation system, and this is also true for the Board of Management, and this is why we tried to keep up as much of the system as possible. If you compare the current system to the new system we are proposing today, you will see that the changes are only minor and many of the components of the compensation have only been slightly adjusted. The Supervisory Board, in view of the new regulatory requirements, has intensively thought about the share-based and non-share-based compensation. The Supervisory Board is quite happy with the share-matching plan introduced for the first time in 2010 regarding retention and incentivation. And based on the wishes of the investors, the Supervisory Board also decided to have a share ownership guideline and an LTI based on a share price-based component. Based on all these aspects, the Supervisory Board did not think it was necessary to have additional targets in the context of the share matching plan. We would also welcome a situation where the regulatory requirements would be less complex. We share your view there. Yes, it's true, the systematics, the basis of the compensation requires a number of components, and this is due to the regulation. But nevertheless, and this comes to another question, Mr. Hottges can still calculate his compensation on his own, and he doesn't need a consultant to do this, and I can also easily make the calculations. The department top executive management at Deutsche Telekom is responsible for the payroll of top management and Board of Management, but the payroll, as such, is in line with the payroll of the other employees. And I also have to say that this goes beyond the definition and the compensation itself, because it also includes tax aspects, but we are still in the position to do the calculations. The -- we have to also show the tax components. And the same is true for the generation of the compensation report, where we also follow the legal requirements and the recommendations of the German Corporate Governance Code. Within -- and this comes to another question within Deutsche Telekom, there are various departments that are generating the payroll for different groups of employees taking into account the specifics of all these different groups. We continuously review, thanks for your recommendation, where we can use artificial intelligence in order to create added value for the group. But for the Board of Management compensation, we are not using any artificial intelligence, unless you think that the use of calculators is already using artificial intelligence. There was a question regarding the peer groups of other telecommunications managers in the U.S. and also in Germany. The compensation system in the United States is difficult to compare to the compensation systems in Europe and in Germany. Share-based payment is much more pronounced in the U.S. American compensation systems, and the compensation paid there are much higher than the compensation for the Board of Management in Germany. Compared to other DAX 30 companies, the members of the Board of Management of Deutsche Telekom have rather average pay. Regarding the usual comparators, revenues, market capitalization and number of employees, the management Board of Deutsche Telekom should be positioned in the upper quarter of the German DAX 30 companies. The level was much lower than that in the past. The Supervisory Board also reviews the compensation in relation to the compensation paid to other people in the company. This is the so-called vertical comparison, compared -- or likely horizontal comparison where the compensation of the Boards of Management of different companies are compared with each other. Deutsche Telekom has not used a compensation consultant for designing the new compensation system. Deutsche Telekom, however, on -- commissioned by the Supervisory Board, uses compensation studies by a compensation consultant to review the compensation. And this costs about EUR 10,000 per annum. In the context of the studies used by us, we then aggregate the figures and statistically prepare them. A compensation consultant was not involved in the generation of the new compensation system and was also not involved in the presentation of the compensation report. Deutsche Telekom follows, as I already said, all legal requirements when generating the compensation report and the invitation to the shareholders' meeting and also follows the recommendations of the German Corporate Governance Code. In a question, there was the recommendation to limit the Board of Management compensation to EUR 500,000 per annum. The Supervisory Board is legally required to ensure an adequate and good compensation for the Board of Management. The average payment in the DAX 30 was much higher than EUR 500,000 in 2020. The individual compensation for the Board of Management members of Deutsche Telekom do not give any reason to think that they were excessive. A limitation to EUR 500,000 total compensation would mean that the Supervisory Board would not be in a position to find talented and ambitious candidates for the succession of current Board members. Next to the questions answered already, we also received a number of questions on individual aspects on the compensation system, which I now would like to answer. There was 1 question regarding the compensation of men and women, or ladies and gentlemen in the Board. In the new compensation system, we do not have to make sure that we will have equal pay between men and women, because the Supervisory Board, when fixing the compensation, is not led by the gender of the Board member, the sexual orientation, nationality or religion. The Supervisory Board regularly discusses the adequacy of Board compensation as required by law. This is a legal requirement, and the Supervisory Board is responsible for this. So there cannot be any question that the Board of Management increases its compensation itself and the Supervisory Board also does not adjust the compensation every year. Normally, the increase of compensation only happens in the case of reappointments or the change of the allocation of business responsibilities. But the Board of Management compensation also has variable components, and this is why the payments can fluctuate, can either go up or down. One question was concerning the adequacy of the variable components of the compensation and the link between the compensation and the paid dividend. Dr. Illek already described the dividend policy of Deutsche Telekom, and there is no more incentivation necessary. And I also would like to come back to what I said earlier on. We've got several possibilities to control the company, not only the compensation for the Board of Management. Variable compensation reflects the corporate performance in the last financial year. In spite of corona, this was a very excellent development, and this is why the managers also participate. And the Board of Management also participated from the dividend development in the past and also participated in the success of the company. In the new compensation system, the long-term variable component is share-based, so that the dividend paid also has an influence on the compensation for the Board of Management. I think a link to the dividend would not be adequate, because then the decision on the dividend could be influenced. Mrs. Gavin asked about the role of the return on capital employed, ROCE, and the weighted average capital cost, WACC, regarding the compensation of the Board of Management. Regulators require a balanced view, balanced approach regarding financial and nonfinancial indicators, and this is something that we try to take into account. ROCE, return on capital employed, is not based on the short-term variable compensation, but accounts for 25% of the long-term variable compensation component. Taking into account of ROCE as a KPI and the allocation in the context of the long-term variable pay was welcomed very much by the majority of the investors we interviewed. A direct comparison between ROCE and WACC is integral component of our communicated financial strategy. It is our approach to at least earn the capital costs. With the ROCE, the WACC itself is not elementary for the development of the ROCE in a period, but is used for comparison. Several questions were about Item 4.1.2 regarding the granting of compensation payment for losses of variable components at the previous employer. So if the -- if somebody wants to change jobs and come from another employer to our Management Board. Here, it's mainly regarding the loss of share-based compensation components. Normally, the Supervisory Board gets help, for example, by actuaries. They try to determine the value of such compensation component with a previous employer. This then is taken into account in the negotiations by the Supervisory Board. When such payments were made in the past, this was always done, also asking the managers to invest into shares of Deutsche Telecom and linked to retention or waiting periods. Is such a component necessary for employment contracts, if the active services provided for Deutsche Telekom should be compensated for? From the point of view of the Supervisory board, the answer to this question is clearly yes. Because this is paying damages to the people. Many companies are trying to tie their high potentials to the company using long-term share-based components and recruiting. These people are only successful if you also grant part -- compensation in part to what they lost. But please rest assured that the Supervisory Board, regarding such payments, does not only require the managers to invest into telecom shares, but also agrees -- provisions, say, there might be some clawbacks, if there is a premature in the termination of the employment contract with Deutsche Telekom. One question was regarding the restriction of the total compensation if people want to leave the Board of Management and compensation payments. What is described in 10.1, the severance regulations when leaving the Deutsche Telecom Board is not linked to other benefits. We got a question from [ Mr. Kopso ] regarding the effect of the planned compensation system the Management Board regarding future compensation. More specifically, what would be the change in compensation for the Board of Management in 2029, if you assume that the new regulation had already been applied when the Board -- the members of the Board of Management joined the company? This cannot be answered. A forecast for the year 2029 is not possible from today's point of view. And in the new compensation system, we also have a variable compensation where you can achieve 150%. Now with the new one, 180% of target achievement, but there is also a downside risk. And the maximum target achievement possibility increases from 150% to a maximum of 200% in the new system. Compared to that, Board members in the new system will not receive any company pension payments any longer. If you were to compare year 2019 to the year 2020, and perhaps this was meant with the question. We, again, cannot give you an answer because due to the changes of the target structure, we don't have any reference values for the past. And until today, we have not come to any new Board agreements in the new system. Ladies and gentlemen, the topic of Board compensation very much focuses on the position of the CEO in the company. And here, I would like to make one very clear statement. Mr. Hottges is a successful CEO, who does excellent work together with his team and the Board of Management. And as shown today, with a new corporate culture, we improved the achievements, and we have achieved a completely new level also with a view toward in the United States. After many, many attempts, we now have achieved a completely new level, and we have brought the company into a completely new position. With a new compensation system that we are proposing today, it's not about increasing Mr. Hottges' compensation. The Supervisory Board has not adjusted any of the components of Mr. Hottges' salary since the extension of his contract in the year 2018. And at that time, we mainly increased variable components. Mr. Hottges' fixed payment was only raised very moderately. If there were fluctuations in Mr. Hottges' compensation in the past, then this is due to the fact that his variable components can have -- can reach a different level, reflecting the success of the company in the relevant period. And let me point out again that the adequacy of the compensation of the Board of Management resulted in our assessment that we are below the average of other DAX companies. So it's not about an increase of the compensation, but in Item 9 on our agenda, it's about basic change of the compensation system to a new compensation system in line with the new regulations in the Corporate Governance Code and in the Stock Corporation Act. The Supervisory Board also intensively dealt with the question whether the Sprint merger justifies an extraordinary bonus payment. This is what [ Mr. Bettendof ] is asking about. Yes. Mr. Hottges described the story. We come from a valley of failures. And then we had very complex steps, and we now achieved a new structure, which enables us a new position on the U.S. market. The merger with Sprint is 1 of the biggest successes of corporate history of Deutsche Telekom, and all the Board members made their contribution. This success is, however, mainly due to the extraordinary performance of Mr. Hottges, who made this possible after a long time where he used a lot of discipline, persistence and creativity, and where he overcame many difficult challenges. I personally can remember a number of telephone calls with Mr. Hottges, where you sometimes were enthusiastic and then you were absolutely disappointed about the progress during the negotiations, and it's great to see how much stamina, how much commitment and how much creativity then finally resulted in this big success, so that we are where we are right now in the United States. I can remember, when the discussion started, the T-Mobile share price was below [ $10.16 ], and now it's $125. So this is a huge difference. And Mr. Hottges, thank you very much again for this achievement. You also mentioned Mr. [indiscernible] and Mr. Illek, they all supported you a lot. And insofar, the special bonus is definitely justified. In that connection, let me refer to a question by Mr. Schmidt. The prerequisite for setting such a payment is, of course, that it is one-off in nature, meaning that the performance of the Board of Management member needs to go above and beyond what they would normally be expected to do. And in addition, it is necessary that the performance of said Board of Management member is a contribution to the long-term strategic continued development of the group. Mr. Schmidt, both of these criteria were fulfilled, for instance, in the case of the merger between T-Mobile U.S. and Sprint, because of Mr. Hottges' special performance, and all shareholders of the group will be benefiting from this transaction in the long term. The payment recognizes Mr. Hottges' several years of activities in this field. He accompanied all of the activities to merge these 2 companies. It was a very difficult process in the U.S. and he brought it to a successful conclusion. In addition to that EUR 600,000 that were paid out in connection with this case, Tim Hottges did not receive any other increase in his salary. The [indiscernible] asked whether it had been considered to pay out the special payment after the synergies have come to fruition. We discussed this at length. That is true. However, we did not feel that there was any reason to postpone this payment for a number of years, because it should be paid out in close temporal correspondent to the work that has been done. It is important to the Supervisory Board to have fundamentally the possibility to allow for such a payment. And so it is an integral part of the remuneration system as we see it. The Supervisory Board did not just use an algorithm in order to calculate this payment. We looked at the situation very carefully. And we need that room for discretion because it is difficult, of course, to assess the contribution that has been done. And so it's important to have some room for maneuver there, excuse me. The item #9 on the agenda of this shareholders' meeting is about the general transition of the remuneration system for the Board of Management to [ AR UG 2 ]. That is the reason why we're having the discussion today. There is no other reason. In connection with this, the Supervisory Board has decided to propose a cap for the CEO of EUR 8.5 million. This is what the law requires, the Code of Conduct, and the Code of Ethics as well, there needs to be a defined cap on CEO's salaries. Where the transition to the new system is concerned, the Supervisory Board has decided to wait for today's shareholders' meeting and your approval, of course, before offering the Board of Management members ways to transition to the new system. I anticipate that you will vote in favor of this change. And I hope that many, if not all, members of the Board of Management will accept the new system. And that concludes what I have to say about the questions on the compensation system. That takes me to the next point, auditors. Mr. and Mrs. [ Luig ], Mr. and Mrs. [ May ], Mr. [ Dana ], Mr. Schröder, Mr. Oswald, Mr. [ Bettendorf ] and [indiscernible] have asked questions on this. We have questions on the proposed auditors for 2021. The proposal to the shareholders' meeting is to appoint Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft PwC as auditors of the annual financial statements for 2021. The original plan was to switch auditors to EY. The current proposal was motivated by the fact that the allegations against EY in connection with the Wirecard case are still not resolved. Also, we felt that it would take too much time in order to switch to a new auditing firm. The Audit Committee of the Supervisory Board is the responsible body here. And monitored compliance with the criteria that are important for the proposal to switch to EY, the tender ran until the end of 2019, and the Audit Committee reported to the Supervisory Board at regular intervals. In December of 2020, there was no reason for us to reconsider our decision to switch to EY as auditors. The responsible bodies looked at the allegations against EY that came in after that period. And the Audit Committee meeting in November 2020 discussed these allegations for the first time. And so the Audit Committee revised its proposal on the 19th of January 2021. The decision to postpone to switch to another auditor by a year was resolved on the 25th of January '21. That is when it was decided to propose to postpone this decision to the shareholders' meeting. It was not the federal government that actively contacted us in this matter. We actually raised the matter ourselves to the federal government and also discussed it with other institutional investors. The Board of Management has no power to decision -- to make decisions in this area. The decision to postpone the switch to another auditing company was communicated by the Chair of the competent Audit Committee, Ms. Kollmann, to the partner at EY that we were in contact with at the time. This was Mr. Schlebusch. And they responded in a very professional manner. EY at this point had not been retained when this decision were taken, and no payments have been made to EY either. This decision, and I want to be clear about that, was taken by the competent bodies without any influence from third parties. It was a challenge to find an alternative for EY because an auditor can only ever do a thorough audit of the financial statements after they have been in the job for a while, and the time until the beginning of the retention was very short. You may not know this, but this is a group-wide audit covering all of our subsidiaries, including the U.S. business. It is not just an audit of Deutsche Telekom AG. Besides the option to postpone its switch of auditors in 2021, the Supervisory Board looked at the option of proposing the second ranked auditor that was in the running for the final audit in 2021. PwC is our current audit company, does not need any transition time because of this, and that is why the competent bodies decided that PwC is the best option in order to go ahead and do a thorough proper audit of the financial statements for 2021. As our auditors, PwC, has the full confidence of DTAG's Supervisory board. Over the last few years, our corporation has been exemplary. PwC accepted our proposal to extend their contract after it had been contacted by the competent bodies. Since our IPO in 1996, PwC has been the audit company for Deutsche Telekom Ag. The obligation to rotate will only come into play in terms of the financial accounts after the 1st of January 2024. And so we had enough flexibility to keep retaining PwC. Thank you very much, Mr. Illek, for giving us that room for maneuver. The proposed decision on item 5c concerns the turn away from EY and the commissioning of PwC as the auditor for additional financial reports during the year, so also for the first quarter of 2021. Obviously, these things are connected, and that's why the decisions are connected as well. It would not make any sense to separate these 2 decisions, because EY, in the meantime, has explicitly rejected our offer to become our new auditors. Mr. Oswald asked why we do not appoint new auditors every year. There are very many reasons for this. I am a former auditor myself, Mr. Oswald, and I can tell you that switching auditors is not a trivial matter. The audit quality would certainly be impacted negatively because of the amount of time it takes to get into the job. And that's why it makes absolute sense to retain auditors for a number of years. But of course, the shareholders are perfectly free to approve a new auditor every single year. You also asked when Telekom will be audited by KPMG. It will depend. For that, there it would have to be a tender and KPMG would have to participate in that tender. They would have to be presented to the shareholders' meeting of DTAG as the preferred candidate, and the shareholders' meeting would have to approve KPMG. These services have to be put out to tender and any auditing company can participate. So KPMG may have an opportunity to participate at some point in the future. That's what I wanted to say about the questions on the final auditors. That concludes the questions that we were able to thematically cluster. I have just been told that we are now at a point where around 300 questions have been answered. So we still have a number of work in front of us. Mr. Hottges, why don't I hand over to you at this point?

Right. Lunch is for losers, as they say, and so we will continue without delay. There's a number of questions on the same theme here, and I will be handing over between me and -- handing over to Mr. Illek every now and again. First of all, [indiscernible] asked about terminal devices. T-Mobile U.S. is -- the revenue with terminal devices reaches around EUR 1 billion for 2021. The projected revenue will be between USD 3.5 billion and USD 4 billion. Current development is in line with the forecast of the company and also the switch of the customers is going well. What about the core EBITDA for 2021? This is an indicator, which is EBITDA minus revenue from the renting of terminal devices, and it tells us whether it makes sense to get out of the rental business. The question is what this means in light of what our competitors are doing. The portfolio is being adjusted to meet current requirements. We are ensuring that digital transformation reduces complexity, cuts down on costs and facilitate everyday work. Our portfolio is helping our customers to transform their classic infrastructure services and moving towards secure multi-cloud services and modern digital architectures. T systems have years of experience and a lot of expertise in this area. At the same time, we have strong partnerships with leading IT manufacturers and hyperscalers, Cisco, VMware, for instance, Microsoft. We have a focus on security, data protection and cloud sovereignty, especially in Europe. [ Digicon ] is offering first-class advisory services for digitalization. In addition, we also have a sustainability program for IT services because, of course, digitalization should also help to protect the climate. The focus is generally on the core business, around the customers that we already have, in regard to cloud services, security and software applications. On the next question, how will the cloud business continue, well, we are cooperating with large partners, hyperscalers, AWS, Microsoft and Google, notably. At the same time, we have an advisory business as well, digital solutions that helps customers to transform their business and move it to the cloud. And we have what is known as public cloud operating services. This is helping us to support our customers as they digitalize their business processes. Mr. [ Matthias ], you also asked about the shop situation in Germany, in other European countries and in the U.S. First of all, on Germany, 99 of the shops are to be closed down. This is a process that will take us up to the first quarter of 2022. Further closures will happen. In Europe, well, our continuously improved online offerings and the success of the Telekom app has meant that in our European footprint, there's been less footfall in our shops. And the coronavirus pandemic has, of course, promoted this. However, it remains to be seen how customer behavior will change. Maybe it will turn to normal once the pandemic is over. Part of our strategy is to keep an eye on this trend and adapt our brick-and-mortar sales to customers' behavior, but we will always need our shops. We will never shut them down completely. They are our calling card for us, for our brand, for our services, also for existing customers that need somewhere to go if they have an issue. So we cannot digitalize this part of the business completely. That is a complete fallacy. In the U.S., the coronavirus pandemic has had a positive impact on the digitalization of T-Mobile US' customer business, and we expect this trend to continue in future. After the merger with Sprint, T-Mobile US will have access to 8,800 shops. That's a very large number. Last year, that number went down to 7,500. And T-Mobile US plans to continue optimizing the number of shops and sites. You had a question on doorstep sales. Since 2004, we've been using partners such as major marketing or PSO to reach out to potential fixed network and broadband customers across the country. This is part of our doorstep business. The challenge when you're looking at fiber rollout is to ensure that there is sufficient demand, corporate and retail demand for it. So even before we start, basically, we need to get a sense of whether the neighborhood is willing and able to buy broadband services from us. And that is why the doorstep sales channel is so important. We're able to provide people with personalized advice, and that's a really important part of our sales strategy. We were also asked what we're doing in order to improve employee satisfaction in the U.S. Satisfaction is enormously high in America, and it's a very important indicator for us. We're seeing this in the indicators that we have. 92% of people in the U.S. are proud to work for T-Mobile US. 85% of employees would recommend T-Mobile as an attractive employer to their friends and family. T-Mobile US was awarded Best Place to Work multiple times by the independent platform, Glassdoor. A lot of work is being done in order to maintain satisfaction at this high level. There's lots of learning and advanced training courses with external experts. We have bestseller authors that come to train our employees and so on and so forth. And also our social engagement is very important. We're doing this in Germany, likewise, in the U.S., where we're assisting vulnerable young people and also adults. The employees appreciate this. The [indiscernible] has pointed out the increasing role the U.S. business plays in terms of boosting group revenue and profits. The shareholders are also asking about the Board of Management's opinions on ways to strengthen the German and European business and consolidate in the EU maybe. As a rule, the group has, in the last few years, definitely benefited from the very good development of T-Mobile US. T-Mobile US had its Capital Market Day recently, and the announcement was made that USD 60 billion is going to be returned to the shareholders between 2023 and 2025. And in Germany and Europe, we are benefiting from that development. We invested much more -- have been investing much more than before also in Europe. And these investments, thanks to synergies from the U.S. merger, can be paid for with our own cash as it were. But of course, we need to ensure that our business remains balanced in the long term. We're monitoring what's happening in the market in Europe and in the U.S. And on this basis, we are evaluating the options available to us. At the moment, we do not assume that there's going to be a cross-country market consolidation of telecoms companies inside the EU very soon. Obviously, activities in some areas of the market may happen. I have to tell you as CEO, I would be delighted if we could see more of a consolidation in what has become an extremely fragmented market, but it takes two to tango. We were asked to provide examples of Smart City solutions. Deutsche Telekom is a corporation partner of the UN when it comes to the initiative United for Smart Sustainable Cities, U4SSC. This contributes to the sustainable development goals. Many of our products help to achieve these goals, for instance, intelligent charging infrastructures for e-vehicles, intelligent administration, dynamic management of street lamps. We also have solutions in our portfolio that help to achieve digital air quality monitoring. And there's also city trees that we have which help to clean the air in urban environments. Mr. Beckendorff at DSW asked, what projects are happening in cities and local communities? Deutsche Telekom is convinced that cities can only digitalize if scalable solutions and sustainable business models are implemented. Of course, it's important, first and foremost, to have a good 5G and fiber infrastructure. It is also important that municipalities build an urban data platform, allowing inter-municipal cooperation to happen. There should be no stand-alone solutions for individual cities and municipalities, where people do whatever they want without cooperation. Deutsche Telekom offers a number of solutions in this area. For instance, in the field of open-source programming, we're working with partners, so cities and communities can take whatever solutions are good for them. An example is the Data Competence Center for Cities and Regions, DKSR. This offers an opportunity to use a uniform open-source data platform helping as many municipalities as possible to work together and connect. These are scalable solutions that are helping communities to make good use of the data that they have. This is good for Deutsche Telekom as well because this generates additional revenue for our networks. And that brings me to Mr. Illek.

[Interpreted] And Mr. [ Matthias ] from Deka Investment asked a question about finance payments and the valuation of goodwill and the annual impairment test. The goodwill list on the balance sheet at the end of 2020 was not $118 billion but merely [ $98.8 billion ]. The estimation of the value, with the exception of T-Mobile US here, the value is taken above the market capitalization, is based on future expected payment flows. Mr. [ Matthias ] asked about the danger of impairments in goodwill and also the decline of ROCE. And we're expecting ROCE to decline in the next year. But by 2022, we expect it to increase again. And you asked about the target there. It's always important whether ROCE is above the discounted capital costs. And for 2020, it was -- this capital cost rate was 4.5%. Mr. [ Matthias ] also asked about the indebtedness of the company and the impact on investment and growth. We have the object -- we've kept the aim -- or rather, we have met our own requirement that we want to keep the net debt within a certain corridor. We said that the Sprint integration would require about 3 years, and the fact that we're at the upper part of the corridor is not surprising. And synergies in the U.S. are expected to have an effect in the coming years. And the run rate of USD 7.5 billion and also the growth in free cash flow, you heard the figures for 2020. We're expecting over the long haul USD 18 billion a year. Also the build-out of fiber optic cable in Germany requires considerable investment as well, so we've taken this into account. And it's not being impeded by this merger either. Also, a question was asked by SdK regarding the indebtedness. In my view, it's very similar to what I just commented on, however -- yes, the -- it's the same question, basically. Another question is on our business report. We received awards for our transparent reporting on a regular basis. The launch of the financial parameter EBITDA AL and free cash flow took place in coordination with other competitors and ensures that as a result of accounting standards, that we still have comparability with previous years. In addition, in our view, it's also common practice that CapEx is looked at and adjusted for spectrum investments, and we've communicated this quite clearly as well. So once again, here's a question about weighted cost of capital. As I said, it was 4.6%. I answered this question whether we would allow follow-up questions. Yes. Another question was whether we would achieve a margin of 8% to 10% at T-Systems. In 2020, EBITDA AL was 7%, and this year, we think it will be roughly at the same level. In 2022, we're expecting them to achieve a margin above 8%. And with that, I would give the floor back to Tim.

[Interpreted] Yes. Thank you, Christian. This brings me to the [indiscernible] with a question about social projects by Deutsche Telekom, especially the Diakonie project. To ensure the adequate employment for excessive civil servants at Deutsche Telekom, we have various internal and external projects. And telecom civil servants are also used at the German Protestant Church as well as for the government authorities. And we've made an agreement for the use of civil servants in projects with the Diakonie. So in the view of Deutsche Telekom, the cooperation with Diakonisches Werk was also a possibility to find employment possibilities for excessive civil servant staff here. The employment project for civil servants with this Diakonisches Werk was then ended at the end of 2016. The main reason for ending was the declining number of civil servants that were excessive here. And we have not been able to find sufficient numbers of qualified civil servants that meet the requirements of the project. So in the business year 2020, the cooperation with Diakonie ended. Donations were no longer made in 2020. In the last 5 years, so from 2016 to 2020, the amount of donation to them totaled EUR 6.7 million. The question was how much is the total amount of all donation certificates that Deutsche Telekom received from Diakonie during the entire period of the project. So as I said, EUR 6.7 million from 2016 to 2020. The cooperation by Deutsche Telekom with the Diakonisches Werk served the persons implementing the work and civil servant obligations to Deutsche Telekom. In particular, requirements under the constitution to find employment for excess civil servant staff were met in the Diakonie project over the last 5 years. From 2012 to 2016, an average of 87 civil servants were used per year. In addition to Diakonie, [indiscernible] also used the model of issuing donation certificates in the years 2018 to 2020. However, the scope of this was much lower at approximately EUR 1 million, and these were certificates for donations. How great -- here's another question. How great are the donations that Deutsche Telekom has made to nonprofit organizations and political organizations? And what is the percentage that Telekom paid out in cash on these organizations? Telekom doesn't make any donations to political parties and doesn't make any cash donations either. Only bank remittances are used. In addition, up to -- well, in 2020, the total amount of donations by Deutsche Telekom AG was EUR 2.2 million. And beyond this, Deutsche Telekom GmbH donated EUR 5 million to the Telekom Foundation. Why -- here's the next question. Why does Telekom not publish a transparency -- in the transparency report how much donations are made? We're actually very transparent, and we do publish. We published this amount in the corporate responsibility report for 2020. The next question is about the Open RAN. Open RAN initiative comprises providers from Europe, Asia and America. And it's following a trend of all network software-guided equipment receiving a new architecture. The number of manufacturers for the antenna network is supposed to be increased through this, and that's a side effect that we welcome. That will help us avoid in the future a large or any major dependencies because of the large number of providers. And when we buy components for network equipment, digital sovereignty is an issue, and that's why Open RAN is a very helpful instrument. Ms. [ Gabler ] asked about the fluctuation in the number of staff. The natural fluctuation at the end of 2020 was only 2%. The previous year, it was 2.3%. She also asked whether we need subsequent financing or additional financing. No, we're in constant dialogue with our banking institutions. And we have a good standing in the bond market. Also, we're highly appreciated as a bank customer, and we have a good creditworthiness rating from the rating agencies. Ms. [ Gabler ] also asked about Mr. Illek's -- she asked about the annual gross income. Based on our reporting system, we were able to come up with the following figures. These are the figures that were received by executive staff if they were not a member of top management. As of the 31st of December 2020, between EUR 110,000 and EUR 229,000 target as cluster, 4,464 people received this. And at the level of EUR 230,000 to EUR 320,000 annual salary, that cluster included 124 persons. And over EUR 320,000, that cluster had 43 people. What are -- also a question was asked about the number of respective staff -- the number of staff and change in percentage year-on-year. Also what measures have been taken by the Board of Management, the Supervisory Board having a negative impact? So we are moving towards a structure with operative segments. The development of the number of staff in our segments and the change compared to the previous year is contained in the annual business report on Page 106. Ms. [ Gabler ] also asked about curious aspects of our litigations. Given the large number of litigations that we have to deal with, there are some odd things and curiosities. Not -- they're not really worth commenting. And also, there's a general rule of confidentiality. But if you are suggesting, though, that we are really having litigation against some space men or animals or that they're taking action against us, I have to disappoint you. Also, you wanted to know about how many lobbyists are employed at Telekom. Political interest representation in Germany is ensured in the area of policy and regulation. There are in total of 20 public affairs staff at the different locations and offices of Deutsche Telekom in Germany, and they're in charge of communication at the national level also and at the regional level. Three of these staff members are in the Berlin office, 9 are in the Brussels office, and 5 are in the office in Washington. Ms. [ Gabler ] also asked about lobby activities. Yes, the whole notion of lobbying cost isn't defined or is very difficult for us to define at any rate. And that's why we'd like to -- we'd prefer to stick to transparency rules and publish the costs of our work in Washington and Brussels. In Brussels, this amount was about EUR 1 million in 2020. At T-Mobile US, it was USD 10 million. These figures are not comparable with each other. However, because they relate to respective requirements, as soon as the requirements for Germany have been defined, then of course, we'll publish the figures on this. Ms. [ Gabler ] asked what the Board of Management and Supervisory Board would do better in 2021 than it did in 2020. For us, 2020 was an absolute record year. And that's why we can definitely say that we and, hence, the Board of Management, Supervisory board did a lot of things really well in 2020. But of course, we don't want to just rest on our laurels. We want to continue to pursue ambitious goals. The biggest challenges for Deutsche Telekom in 2021 are realization of the synergies from the U.S. merger, the build-out of 5G and fiber optics, accelerating the build-out of fiber optics in Germany, continuation of the transformation of our business customers area, T-Systems. And what we will do maybe that's different than 2020 or better is the virtual or hybrid cooperation both on the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board. The most important challenges for the company, in my opinion, will be, first of all, digitalization of industry and business but, in particular, schools and public administration. We need beacons that promote digitalization among all of us, also digital inclusion and a responsible manner of dealing with it in a digitalized society. We're talking about ethics and free speech, also sustainability, climate protection and saving natural resources. And also Europe is involved in a real difficult international terrain between the U.S.A. and China. But as I said, digitalization will be the priority. Ms. [ Gabler ], you're interested in software too which we use at Supervisory Board and Board of Management meetings. Regarding information, we use Secure Dataroom from Brainloop AG with 2 -- with double verification. To transfer information to the Board of Management, we SharePoint by Microsoft. And for video conferences, we use Webex from Cisco. And it's all in the Telekom network. Ms. [ Gabler ] asked about the development of data traffic in our networks. Data volume per fixed network connection, not including MagentaTV for Telekom Deutschland in December 2019, averaged 146 gigabytes. In December 2020, the average amount was 217 gigabytes. The average data volume per mobile communications agreement contract in December of last year was 4 gigabyte. And in December 2020, it was 6 gigabytes. Monthly use is subject to seasonal fluctuations, but the figures are trending upwards. Mr. [ Buhlmann ], you asked about quantum technology. Quantum computing is not a core business of Telekom, but we're moving in that direction. We're pursuing a lot of -- doing a lot of research here, and the focus of our activities are identifying and preparing possible use scenarios in our business fields. Spelling that out in more detail, we're involved in research in the area of quantum cryptography, which is a method to safeguard and secure our networks. The economic potential here is, no doubt, enormous. And that's why we're already investing now in training of staff for this new technology. Mr. [ Buhlmann ], you asked about our business model with RTL in comparison to the formal T-Online portal. With online portal t-online.de, it's not comparable really to the cooperation with RTL. With MagentaTV, we want to offer our customers the best partner portfolio, the best user experience and the best content. With TVNOW Premium, we're expanding these partner and contents -- and MagentaTV Smart and MagentaTV Smart Flex, Tera streaming service, TVNOW is completely -- Premium is completely integrated to them. In addition, Telekom Deutschland has agreed with the RTL Media Group to penetrate growth markets of streaming and personalized advertising. With us, you can use one platform to have -- to access all the -- pretty much all the content. And if we're talking about paid content, you can look at where the most favorable offers are. Mr. [ Bachmann ], this brings me to your question about the form used for telephone invoices. With digitization, not only are we meeting customers' desires, we're also reducing the amount of paper to protect the environment. But our customers still have the possibility to receive a duplicate of their invoice by surface mail. And to do this, we recommend using the so-called SEPA automatic debiting system. This ensures that the amount will be paid on time. Please also try out our app. With this app, you have a permanent cost control. You can communicate with us directly. You have complete transparency over all the transactions on your invoice, and you protect the environment. Yes. Also, you asked about the length of the transition period regarding, yes, electrical grid risks. The priorities depend on -- with -- well, it depends on the respective technology priorities. Where priorities are, where there's breakdowns in critical infrastructure, central areas are network reserve facilities. For example, we have to secure these like in -- they're huge. They are the size of ship's diesel engines. So -- and also, we have mobile grid backup facilities, which can be used mobilely in Germany. And so we have redundancy as far as energy supplies goes. Another question is why we're losing market share in the fixed network and building out the network? Why we're losing market shares in the fixed network? And well, the number of sold fixed net connections continues to grow. That's why we don't understand your question about losing market share. And the cost of building out 18 MFGs, these are those cabinets in [ shop ] you asked about, are approximately EUR 1 million. Mr. [ Bachman ] asked about the quality of our service centers. His observations that he described in our contact or -- yes, dealing with complaints is hard to understand. I can't really -- don't understand his question. He asked about the quality of our service centers. And then he described that as not being transparent. Our staff are required to answer the telephone, stating their name and where their office is. And they're also taught soft skills like friendliness. We do external tests to confirm their behavior. And if there's complaints about -- through customer feedback, we take action to stop this kind of behavior. In the recent test conducted by CONNECT, the following categories were tested: reachability, waiting time, friendliness and quality of statements. For customer service, Srini Gopalan is in charge of -- Ferri Abolhassan is the in charge of service in Germany. And we've seen huge increases in customer satisfaction, especially at service centers. Okay. Let's continue with questions on the balance sheet structure from Mr. [ Bulman ]. Goodwill, Mr. [ Bulman ], amounts to EUR 20 billion, not EUR 120 billion. EUR 120 billion, that comprises all intangible assets, which includes spectrum licenses from the U.S. So how do we want to address net debt? That is based on what I just said on how we want to tackle net debt in the context of the situation in the U.S. T-Mobile U.S. has raised expectations in terms of the synergies to be raised. The amount expected has increased. So we are expecting the guidance to actually improve, if at all, rather than to be corrected downwards. The next question was whether we don't expect a share price of EUR 30. I think EUR 20 is more realistic. If you want to achieve EUR 30, then first you need to achieve the EUR 20. Then Mr. [ Bachman ] asked, what is the current share of BlackRock in Deutsche Telekom? As of the 31st of December 2020, BlackRock hold -- held a stake of 4.92%. Another question was, do you know that companies such as Ernst & Young, PwC, KPMG, Deloitte are suspected to have been involved in [ Comcom and ComX ] transactions? We are aware of such reports, but we don't have any further information. The next question was, what was paid to the auditors in 2019? EUR 36.9 million to PwC. Other consulting services, EUR 9 million mainly to Ernst & Young and PwC. Tax consulting fees, EUR 2.7 million, mainly to Deloitte. Other services, EUR 98.7 million, mainly to Deloitte. In 2019, a total of EUR 17.1 million were paid to KPMG. 2020 financial accounts, EUR 63.2 million to PwC. Other consulting services, EUR 5.5 million, mainly to Ernst & Young and PwC. Tax consulting fees, EUR 7.9 million, mainly to Ernst & Young and PwC. And other services, EUR 48.1 million to Deloitte. In 2020, a total of EUR 16.8 million were paid to KPMG. We did not subcategorize such payments in terms of KPMG. Okay. Then Mr. [ Oswald ] asked about how we intend to handle revenue and customers. And to what extent customers are important for our revenue? Honesty and transparency provide the basis for a trusting relationship. The increase in customer satisfaction shows that we are on the right track. Mr. [ Oswald ], as for your question. You asked to what extent the traditional telecoms business is still ready to survive? Data traffic over the past 2 years has increased considerably and will continue to increase. According to Ericsson, mobile data traffic will triple by 2025 per smartphone compared to 2020, which means that the need for telecommunication services will continue to grow. Nonetheless, as a result of technological innovation, such as software-based networks and the entry of new market participants, for instance, Microsoft as an infrastructure provider over-the-top players with new services, will continue to change. This is not a new trend. But we've observed it for a couple of years, and we have adjusted our strategy accordingly. We are well prepared and confident that we will continue to be successful. On your comment, digitization as a buzzword and a means to gain a shopper profile. Digitization is an essential trend that massively changes a lot of our work processes and entire value chains in many industries as well as the way we live together in our societies. We look at ourselves as a trustworthy partner with the necessary technological know-how and years of experience to support our customers and digitization. Now as for your comment that in the telecommunications industry, there's also black sheep and that there's lot needs to be done to improve the reputation. We are very proud to say that we have a very good reputation and that customer satisfaction here is very high. The results actually measured in the KPI, the TRI*M index on a scale from minus 66 to plus 134 points, Deutsche Telekom came in at 70.2 points in 2020 compared to the base value of 67.9 points. In the U.S., we use the Net Promoter Score, which has improved by 68% since 2016. As for your comment that there are always technical problems and challenges. Yes, that's true. We are operating in a technology-driven environment. In addition to running highly complex technologies, we also need to be able to control physical challenges such as floods or lines that are destroyed underground. In addition, there is continuous innovation and the rolling out of new infrastructure such as 5G and optical fiber. Nonetheless, in mobile communications, we stand apart from our competitors due to our excellent network quality, and we regularly win accolades for our network. I think it is undisputed that with all its technological confidence, Deutsche Telekom is one of the innovation leaders, and without networks, there's no digitization. Mr. [ Oswald ], I am pleased to hear that you liked the speech that I gave at the last shareholders' meeting. You said, "Great speech." Well, thank you very much for that praise. I already talked about where Deutsche Telekom stands today and what our goals for the next couple of years are. And by the way, we deliberately chose to show the video at the end in order to provide an outlook to 2030 and to give you an idea of how things are likely to develop until then. Mr. [ Oswald ], with regard to my question -- to my speech at the shareholders' meeting, you quoted me as saying, "We need to be self-critical in order to be successful." Yes, we'll stick with that. Our attitude is essential to the company's success. Our company is operating in a highly dynamic and technology-driven ecosystem. Therefore, it is becoming ever more important that we are not resting on our laurels. Instead, we should continuously ask ourselves how we can improve and how we can continuously adapt ourselves to changing market conditions. "Responsibility encourages us." That was a quote, yes, it does. And more than that, we are proud to take responsibility for society, especially now in difficult times. And I think in times of corona, we proved that we are ready to do this. And in this context, I would like to point out our activities to become more economical in terms of the use of resources and cutting carbon emissions, our campaigns against hatred online and our engagement in connection with the corona warning app. Well -- and then last year, I was saying that, yes, we are the ones driving digitization. And we are building and running highly efficient telecommunications networks. We invested EUR 17 billion in that last year, not including spectrum, and this makes us one of the main enablers of digitization in all the markets where we are present. And you referred to my term plow horse from last year in this context. Then the question was, should we -- shouldn't Deutsche Telekom set up a customer advisory board? Answer. At Deutsche Telekom, we have the so-called Ideas Forge, an established format where customers and noncustomers can actively contribute to what we are doing. We are now working with more than 14,500 participants to develop and further improve our products and services, and to provide the best possible user experience. And we also -- and particularly take into account critical yet constructive feedback. So Mr. [ Oswald ], you are welcome to join us on this Ideas Forge, then you can see how we are working. Then you asked about how do we help Europe to continue digitization? Deutsche Telekom is making a significant contribution to improving digitization with its networks and services. Over the past few years, we have tripled the rollout of optical fiber in Europe, and we have connected 1 million additional households to the network in 2020. We offer a 98% coverage with LTE. At the same time, we are offering smart parking, smart lighting, traffic management, et cetera. During the corona pandemic, for instance, we started supporting digital learning for pupils offering free-of-charge data packages and learning products. Now if you want to turn us into a software company for digitization, then we would no longer have the resources we need to invest in the networks. That will turn out to be a strategic trap for us. The most important thing for us is our infrastructure. This is what we are focusing on. So yes, we're also doing software, but it is not at the heart of the product that we are offering. Mr. [ Oswald ] then asked, how about your plan to become a European champion? Answer. The strategy of the Deutsche Telekom Group is we want to be Europe's leading telecoms company, and we'll stick with that goal. Based on our current market capitalization, we are almost twice as big as the next biggest competitor, Vodafone, and almost 3x as big as Orange. And in an international scale, BT and Orange are still smaller than Deutsche Telekom, combined. So yes, we want to become even more relevant. And I'd also like to point out the article in Handelsblatt from this morning, which impressively describe what we are doing. If we want to be leading, however, that doesn't necessarily mean leading in size. Size is just a result of good management. We want to be leading in terms of our attitude, in terms of the way we go about things. Mr. [ Oswald ], you asked about digitization at the average age of people on the Board of Management and the women's quota. The average age on the Board of Management is 54 years, and on the Supervisory Board, 57 years. So Mr. [indiscernible], actually joined the Supervisory Board. And all the members are highly skilled in terms of digitization. With 45%, this Deutsche Telekom Supervisory Board has an above-average number of women on the committee. On the Board of Management, the women's share is 37.5%. But whenever we have to fill vacant post, the main factor is still whether someone is a suitable candidate for the job description or not. Mr. [ Oswald ], you asked several questions on compliance at Deutsche Telekom. The Board department, HR and Legal is responsible for the compliance management system. At the same time, we have a dedicated member at every management, the Board of Management level who's responsible for compliance. The Chief Compliance Officer of Deutsche Telekom is responsible for the group-wide designing, enhancement and implementation of the compliance management system. At the level of our operating segments and netco's compliance offices implement the compliance management systems and achieve the compliance goals. On the website of Deutsche Telekom, you can find all sorts of detailed information on compliance. Also, Deutsche Telekom has set up a whistleblower portal called Tell Me! where interested parties can provide anonymized tipoffs. Deutsche Telekom does not have an external special attorney in this context. But our internal lawyers are handling it as part of the case management process. According to the Deutsche Telekom website, under Compliance, you will find that in 2020, 46 cases were confirmed as being compliance relevant. In addition to controls performed by internal auditing, the compliance management system is audited by external audit companies. The compliance organization of Deutsche Telekom comprises 153 full-time equivalents across the group, of whom 38 FTEs are allocated to group compliance management at group headquarters. Mr. [ Oswald ], you asked about how many litigations are currently pending? Mr. [ Oswald ], in 2020, we initiated around 4,900 -- pressed charges against 4,900 customers who were not willing to pay. There's also 160 litigations from customers against Telekom Deutschland. In addition, there are around 770 litigations under labor law and civil servant law. Then there are various -- 350 trials pending at Deutsche Telekom AG or its domestic subsidiaries under civil law. And in Germany, we have another 100 trials with the litigation value of a total of EUR 100,000. And then there are 90 pending admin-related litigations. We regularly provide reporting on that in our quarterly reports. Mr. [ Oswald ], you also asked about business trips. For journeys to the United States, we are using standard flights but we travel first class. Mr. [ Oswald ], you asked how many processes whether over the last 10 years that required an ombudsman to be involved? What amounts were involved, and what are the number of trials? We do not have an ombudsman at Deutsche Telekom. Consumers can contact the telecom customer service or the arbitration broad of the Federal Network Agency if necessary. We've had some good experience with that at telecom in 2019. There were around 175 telecom arbitration cases pending with the Federal Network Agency. And we always try to find a solution directly with the customers which succeeded in most cases. Now Mr. [ Oswald ], you asked about our advertising activities. Yes, advertising spending can be measured and is continuously checked for efficiency. Deutsche Telekom has -- raises the largest brand awareness in advertising compared to any other telecommunications providers in the German market. In February, Deutsche Telekom achieved an unaided awareness or recognition of 52%, followed by Vodafone and 1&1 with 33%, respectively. By investing in advertising and by presenting itself as a leading integrated all-in provider, Deutsche Telekom has managed to position itself successfully in terms of Internet, fixed network, mobile communications and TV. Mr. [ Oswald ], you asked how the color magenta was created? The color magenta was introduced in 1991 as part of the development of a new brand image. The idea was to find a unique color for the IT and telecommunications industry. And that worked out well. The color was developed together with a marketing agency called Interbrand Zintzmeyer & Lux based in Zurich. Then Mr. [ Oswald ] had several questions on voice control and customer service. In 2020 alone, we received 35 million calls. A lot of these queries require specific and comprehensive knowledge on technology products and calling plans. And therefore, we select our employees carefully. With our voice-based portal, we are enabling our customers to find the right contact partner. In this way, calls don't have to be forwarded several times. And we can then resolve a large part of the queries in the first go. This is our goal. The voice portal is necessary in order to provide the right quality to our customers. And our service quality has been confirmed by various tests, as I said. And whenever we are getting critical customer feedback, we are taking it seriously. We are enhancing the voice portal accordingly. Actually, we don't even want the customers to notice that they are speaking to a machine. Then Mr. [ Oswald ] wanted to learn more about my talks with representatives of the federal government. The German government, as a co-owner of Deutsche Telekom AG, exercises a controlling function on the Supervisory Board. The representative of the German government on the Supervisory Board, is Dr. Rolf Bösinger, State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance. I myself, as CEO, regularly provide reports on the Supervisory Board and answer any questions that the members may have. Mr. [ Oswald ] also wanted to know to what extent digitization has progressed in the group? Answer. Digitization at telecom means to tackle 3 areas in a very focused manner. First of all, customer interface. Every customer interaction has to be digitally enabled. One example of this is the Magenta app. In our European Natcos, as many as 62% of our customers are using the Magenta app. In Germany, it's over 56%. In addition, our technical service is using apps in order to proactively maintain the network and customer hardware so that we can detect potential failures at an early stage. That's referred to as preventive maintenance. As far as the digitization of the customer interface is concerned, T-Mobile U.S. has come a long way. They have a so-called team of experts, and that is an essential pillar to provide the best possible customer experience there. Secondly, we are also digitizing our networks. In the future, like I said, networks will be increasingly controlled by software, including open RAN. And therefore, I mean, the home of software is the cloud, which means that a lot of these functions will be stored in the cloud. And the third point is that we are digitizing our internal processes in order to become more efficient and better. One case in point being our entire admin system. We also digitized external processes during the corona pandemic. During the pandemic, within just one weekend. We made it possible for 16,000 service center staff to start working from home in the home office, which was unique. We just dismantled the hardware in the office and made it available to our colleagues at home because we didn't have enough laptops, and that worked out very well. We maintained our -- the level of production -- of productivity. You asked about the development of the telecommunications market in Germany. The Federal Network Agency obliged Deutsche Telekom to make its telecommunication services available to competitors in the form of wholesale services, which means that competitors can then make these services available to their customers. The goal of the regulatory authority is to reinforce the position of the competitors. This is a market which is shaped by fierce competition, and Deutsche Telekom lost a lot of market share. Having said that, for the past few years, we have constantly regained market share, especially in mobile communications. And last year, we were also able to regain a larger share in the fixed network. The giga coax marketing, for instance, we are market leader in Germany. We have a retail market share of just under 40%. And in broadband, we are the #1 in Germany. You asked about our strategy...

I'm sorry, Mr. Hottges, I need to interrupt for a moment. This is just a virtual shareholders meeting, but if we were at a face-to-face meeting, then I would have asked Mr. [ Oswald ] a long time ago, how many questions he intends to ask because you've been answering his questions for much more than 10 minutes. And we actually want to set aside the same amount of time for all shareholders so that everybody has a chance. I know that this is a special convention, a conventional one. But can I ask that if we have the same number of questions, again, we should consider handling it differently because it cannot be that one shareholder asks such a long list of questions just because we are holding a virtual meeting, which is completely different from a face-to-face meeting. Let me just remind you, we are here in order to work on the agenda. And the questions raised must be directly related to the agenda and should help us to work on the agenda to coordinate our activities. I think Deutsche Telekom is offering so many different channels to obtain information on the company and its activities that we shouldn't raise all the relevant questions here. I mean, this is a shareholders' meeting, and this is about the most important, the most pressing questions. Mr. [ Oswald ], we do appreciate the interest that you show in our company. It's great that you care about so many different facets of our company. But in the vested interest of all the other shareholders, we might want to think twice about how we want to handle such a long list of questions. So why don't we do an [ Oswald ] break now and we'll continue in a moment with Mr. [ Oswald ] as well. But just to give you a chance, Mr. Hottges, to save your voice as well. Let's continue with something else now.

Let me now take over, and I will also answer questions raised by Mr. [ Oswald. Mr. Oswald ], let me say at this point, I hope you understood me correctly. We really appreciate your interest, but we have to bear in mind the interest of all the shareholders. Mr. [ Oswald ], you asked whether there were any telling -- any claims against the decisions taken by Deutsche Telekom in the previous shareholders' meetings? No, there's not. Then you asked about a fleet. Yes, we've got a fleet. Four company cars and this is managed by T MobilitySolutions. Now there were a number of questions regarding the company cars in general. All in all, Deutsche Telekom has 23,000 company cars. And I know that they are mainly used for the interest of the company but also sometimes for private reasons. We've got 6,500 company cars under our car policy, 1,500 for the managers and the rest is distributed among sales and sales people. We have a car policy, but -- and the things are regulated. You also asked about any privatization whether we know about privatization efforts? No. You also asked about the shareholders' meetings and the tax rules. Deutsche Telekom doesn't have anything to do with the tax regulations and we cannot grant you any tax benefits. You also ask a question concerning debt. I think I already mentioned this several times. Net financial debt as of the end of last year is EUR 120.2 billion, or as I already said, the leverage ratio is 2.78. Mr. [ Oswald ], you also asked about book liabilities in the balance sheet. They are EUR 192.4 billion. The net financial debt, EUR 120 billion, as I said before. Questions concerning the valuation and the discretion that you asked here, the valuation of all the assets and debts is based on IFRS. These are explained in detail in the annual report. And the discretion we have is also explained in the chapter on methods in our annual report. Mr. [ Oswald ], you also asked about the aggregated representation of all debt. Since 1996, our debt position is permanently refinanced, and this is why it doesn't make much sense to give you any aggregated figures. Mr. [ Oswald ], on liabilities and debt, you asked about the liabilities of T-Share, and the interest per T-Share EUR 25.25. This is the financial liabilities per share. And the interest burden is EUR 1.25 per share. Then the question is, when will we get back to the debt corridor that we said ourselves. And I think I already answered this question in detail. Then you asked about the interest. Deutsche Telekom has paid since the new emissions EUR 296 billion since 1996. Mr. [ Oswald ], the total development of net financial -- that we already have this. Mr. [ Oswald ], some other questions of you were about the share count and the number of small shareholders. It used to be 16%, then it increased to 40 -- it declined to 14%. And in 2019, it was 16% again. And now in 2020, we've got share of 20%. We will treat all the shareholders the same, and this is also true regarding the answers that we provide on questions raised by the shareholders. We don't have the impression that between 1996 and the year 2000, the burdens that we gained there are still on our business. Regarding a comparison to other stock operations, the question why we are no longer paying for public transport and parking ticket during the shareholders' meeting. This question was raised again. For the next face-to-face meetings, we will not -- we will pay the fees. And now KFW has a certain share. And we -- you also asked about the dividend share of the federal government or [ KFE ]. The dividend proposal is EUR 2.48 billion, and this means 31.9% or 908 million. You asked about our strategy, Mr. [ Oswald ], and you said that we should also look at the services and prices of smaller companies. We said that we are pursuing a growth strategy. And in 2020, we achieved the highest levels in customer satisfaction. In mobile service revenue, we have a market share of 36.6%. In broadband, in terms of net adds, we almost had 56% market share. And with our convergence offering, MagentaOne, we also keep on growing. But of course, you are right that we can also learn from other providers. That's where we are constantly monitoring our competitors in the various markets as well. One question from Mr. [ Oswald ] on Life is for sharing. That's what Deutsche Telekom is all about. Our customers want to use the options of the digital world to stay in touch and to share special moments. With our network, our products and our services, we enable our customers to do just that. Mr. [ Oswald ], some of your questions refer to some negative reports in the media in connection with misconduct by Deutsche Telekom. As a large company, Deutsche Telekom has been -- has often been subject to reporting, both positive and negative. We clearly commit ourselves to values such as respect and appreciation which is also embedded in our code of conduct. However, at Deutsche Telekom, there have also been cases of misconduct. We are looking at -- into all compliance-related cases. Respect and integrity, by the way, are part of our set of values that I mentioned in my introductory speech. Mr. [ Oswald ] asked about compliance investigations with one of our subsidiaries in Brazil. Yes, there were some compliance-relevant cases in Brazil, which were reported to Germany. This was about the breach of internal guidelines, which was sanctioned accordingly. It depends on every individual case what the ultimate consequences are. Then Mr. [ Oswald ] asked about the consequences of the doping scandal for Deutsche Telekom's advertising activities. It was a negative development, but it had no negative effect for the shareholders. We included a sports doping clause into our contracts, and we try to hedge the risks in our contracts to the best possible extent. You also asked about Tim Hottges' commitment in the Supervisory Board of the Bayern Munich Football Club. Munich does not need my sports advice, although as a former handball player, I have little knowledge about football. And they've got excellent people to do this. I am in the Supervisory Board as a representative of the main sponsor. And I give my strategic and economic knowledge, and Bavaria is quite successful. You also asked about the media payments. Well, the highest media spend we have is during the Super Bowl spots of T-Mobile U.S. The prices are public. Last year, a 30-second spot cost around USD 5.2 million. And now let me move on to the question of the average age and the attrition of our people. The age structure is 41.5 years group-wide. The female share is 35%; male share, 65%. The attrition rate in Germany is at 2%. People usually work with us between 1 and 24 years. Deutsche Telekom offers young people a start into their career using classical training or dual studies. For the year 2020, we had 40,511 applications, 35,409 of which for classical training and 5,102 for dual-study course. All in all, the share of female applicants in year 2020 was 25%, and the share of male applicants, 75%. We have 2,150 trainees and dual students, and 2,094 contracts could be concluded. We have good experience when we use the trained talent to fill positions in our company and the number of people that spend their whole career at Deutsche Telekom, we can't say anything about this, but we also offer company pension. We have a telecom capital plan that is normally paid in old age in a single payment. And there is also possible to start paying into a regular scheme using the telecom pension fund. Both systems are implemented for the major part of the employees across all the groups. Mr. [ Oswald ] also asked about the career opportunities for our young talent. At the end of the dual studies or the training, people can ask to be taken over by the company. And in 2020, we took over 686 trainees and 386 students and gave them a chance to work in the company. We also have various upskilling possibilities for young talent so that we support people in their personal development. For university students, we have the start-up trainee program. Start-up trainee positions are advertised. Graduates from the university can then apply for the 18-month start-up program. After the successful application and after going through the program, they have the opportunity to be -- to serve as top experts in the group to drive innovative and strategic future topics. Where somebody comes from is not the main question here, but rather how he or she drives the development and users and lifts the telecom network. The development of new and existing employees is very important. There are various possibilities for personal development, also using digital learning platforms. Mr. [ Oswald ], you had some more questions concerning the trainees. As of the 31st of December 2020, we have 4,061 trainees. Deutsche Telekom has 12 different job profiles we offer to young people, 7 technical and 5 commercial careers. In the technical field, it's in IT, it's in system integration for data and process analysis, digital networking, digital management, IT systems management and IT systems electronics. And the -- then we've got this commercial trending courses. On the 31st of December 2020, we had 1,379 trainees in the first year of training, 1,341 in the second and 1,341 trainees in third year. We are not offering any training covering 4 years. In 2020, across all the training years, 3.2% of the trainees terminated their training. As of the 31st of December 2020, in Germany, we made it possible for 4,061 trainees to enter into their career here. 2/3 of the trainees are normally taken over in permanent jobs. As of 31 December 2020, we had 48 different nationalities among the 4,061 trainees. We've got our own training operation, telecom [indiscernible], active in 35 of our national locations. And 1 of the 35 sites of the telecom training and in -- we do our training. Then you asked a question concerning trainees. We've got our own training operation. And we offer the best of our trainees some time abroad. This takes between 6 and 12 months and depends on the trainee course. The time spent abroad is irrespective of the job profile. We mainly focus on Eastern Europe. This is organized by telecom [indiscernible] and is normally happening during the second year of training or studies. Training and dual studies are an important pillar for winning new staff. Mr. [ Oswald ], now I come to the question concerning further training and upskilling. Deutsche Telekom offers a wide range of upskilling possibilities. There are specific offers for software development on cloud architecture, agile, project management languages, but there are also informal learning offers. We give our employees orientation so that they can select their own learning methods and courses. But there is also a small share of obligatory training. For example, on data protection, security and compliance that everybody has to go through.

I would like to speak again, Mr. [ Oswald ], already said that I highly appreciate your high degree of interest in the company, but we would like to complete meeting in good time, and we also would like to give many shareholders the possibility to ask questions. I'm not sure what we will do in future years, whether we will have follow-up questions. Probably, we will have 2-day meetings in the future. Mr. [ Oswald ], I'm not sure whether you are listening. I assume you do. Perhaps it would be a possibility that in the interest of other shareholders, whom we also want to cover and answer the questions, that you withdraw your open questions. If this is the case, then I would like to ask you to tell us and I would like to skip the rest of your questions for the time being.

Then let me continue with questions by Mrs. [ Gabler, ] and we start with the taxes paid by Deutsche Telekom for 2020. We paid sales tax, we paid wage tax, corporate tax and commercial tax and electricity tax. The next question is on tax and social contributions. This is, of course, based on the individual features of the employees. And this is then handed over to the tax offices, and they are also reviewed. Another question is on the profit and loss transfer agreements. In the existing agreements, all the income is reported. We, of course, also are in line with all the legal requirements based on the commercial code. And we also offset losses carried forward as much as possible. Another question by Mrs. Gabler is what losses of watch companies we took over. We use operative segments to control our company with the exception of T-Systems, all are making a positive contribution. Look at individual corporate companies, it's not very telling in the structure of our company. Mrs. [ Gabler ] also asked about special service hotlines. First of all, we don't have any commission payments hotline numbers. And as the network operator in the past 2 years, we got about EUR 3 million -- or we paid EUR 3 million to our customers in the hotline 100 -- 0137 in 2019, we paid EUR 19 million of sharings, and in 2020, EUR 25 million. Mr. [ Gabler ] also asked about our credit lines, with which banks we have these? We've got credit lines with 21 banks amounting to a total of EUR 12.6 billion. And these are bilateral credit lines at the usual market conditions. Mrs. [ Gabler ] also asked whether and to which amount we paid negative interest rates? In 2019 and 2020, especially in 2020 after the merger between T-Mobile U.S. and Sprint, we had high payment flows from the United States. And unfortunately, this meant that we had to pay negative interest rates in 2020. Mrs. [ Gabler ], you also asked about the operational development in the 3 largest companies related to revenues. And again, I have to say that we use the operational segments to control our company, not the legal entities. All the segments in 2020 made a positive contribution to EBITDA AL, with the exception of T-Systems, had a positive EBITDA contribution. And it is -- we normally do not take a look at the individual legal entities in the different countries. Mrs. [ Gabler ], you also asked about the development this year, please refer to the annual report for this. You also asked about EBIT. In the annual report 2020 it was EUR 12.8 billion, and this is something that you can find on Page 51 of the annual report. Another question is about the capital that we need for our operations. And in this context, you asked about art, works of art, which are not necessary for our operations. On the asset side, in balance sheet, we've got EUR 265 billion. And on Telekom AG, we've got EUR 116.8 billion. In the balance sheet, we've got works of arts amounting to EUR 7 million. Mrs. Gabler also asked about our investment plan for the next 5 years for the year 2021. We plan investments amounting to EUR 18.4 billion and about EUR 7.7 billion will flow into the European business. The rest will go to the United States. By 2024, we will successively increase capital expenditures to EUR 8.2 billion in Germany. In the United States, we plan to invest USD 11.7 billion to USD 12 billion. And this is, of course, excluding spectrum and excluding acquisitions. Mrs. [ Gabler ] also asked a number of questions in the context of Wirecard. Deutsche Telekom does not have any direct investments into Wirecard. In the context of the pension fund management, we had very small positions where Wirecard was involved and this is amounting to 0.07% of the total share portfolio. In the bond portfolio, we've got around EUR 100,000. They were liquidated. But in the share portfolio, it's around EUR 800,000. And all in all, we've got a loss of EUR 1 million that we report in this context. Mrs. [ Gabler ] also asked about assets that we use as collateral for credits. And here, I'm talking about collateralized assets. April, it was EUR 19 billion; T-Mobile U.S., EUR 17.3 billion; October, EUR 4.7 billion. And the terms are between 2031 to 2060. The interest rate is between 2.25% and 3.6%. And for the rest, I refer you to the statements in the annex to the annual report. Mrs. [ Gabler ] also asked about the equity ratio. The equity ratio is based on the interim reports and the annual reports on the 30th of March 2019, it was 25.8%; in September, 26%; and on the 31st of December, 27.1%; in March 26.3%; and in June, 27.2%; on the 30th of September 2020, at 27.1%; and at the end of last year, at 27.4%. On the question regarding the impairment tests, I think I already gave you plenty of information on this beforehand. What else do we have? Ms. [ Gabler ], you also asked about insurance. In our group, we got income from insurance companies amounting to EUR 73 million. The biggest individual items was USD 20 million in damages that we were paid in the U.S. And we've got reimbursements in the context of Hurricane Laura in the United States and some other smaller or minor items.

Thank you very much, Christian. Now I would like to answer questions raised by Mr. [ Sylvia Lenna ]. He asked whether perhaps we should focus on GAIA-X instead of the cooperations with Amazon and Microsoft. As a supporter of GAIA-X, Deutsche Telekom is already working for the guarantee of cloud sovereignty. But we also want to provide our customers the best cloud services by providing access to a broad range of different services, and this includes AWS, Azure or Google Cloud. And of course, we always comply with the highest data privacy and security standards. And we want to have global scalable solutions that are established in the market by the big cloud providers and good developer community. And we also want to have good European cloud solution with high data privacy rules. Then there is a question concerning small- and medium-sized enterprises and how we want to gain contracts here. You mentioned the example, Cloud PBX. Last year, about 18,000 qualified contracts were automatically generated and passed on. A smaller share of the online contacts is now sent to outlook mailboxes and is there processed by our staff. And we are also working on an automation of these processes. On Cloud PBX, this is an important topic for the future especially for small- and medium-sized enterprises. In the service, we improved the quality of advice. And normally, any inquiries coming in will be answered within 1 week. We invest into contacts with our customers, and we've got a new team, the MagentaService Live video consulting where we've got specialists dealing with our customers. And there is also the possibility for our customers to get a Cloud PBX offer, which is not binding on the Internet and to send it directly to the team. Is the cloud-first approach a new dimension? And can this be a European game changer? The progress of the cloud technology is one of the most important technology trends in recent years, and cloud-native is setting new standards for ICT solutions. It's no longer about having data centers, but about having intelligent processes in highly automated infrastructure. So we are talking about cloud computing. Here, U.S. companies are dominating Microsoft, Azure and Google based on their size and the technology competence. With cloud first, T-Systems is gaining a new strategic position and it links the approaches of the private and the public cloud, and is offering a hybrid cloud. With these multi-cloud processes, which are an alternative or an addition to the American players and offer European solutions, here, we are coming back to GAIA-X. Deutsche Telekom is offering new opportunities in these new times. The following question is referring to the initiative, cloud first. And is asking what aim we are pursuing. The cloud-first strategy is placing the public cloud first. With a public cloud solution, our customers are supported in the digitization of their business processes. And we use the -- our own Open Telekom Cloud, but also the structure of partners, such as Azure, Amazon, Google and others. Mr. [ Schwartz ] would like to know regarding data protection risks. When American cloud providers are used? Deutsche Telekom is cooperating with the majority of companies in Europe and the large cloud service providers. All the services are subject to an individual risk review and existing risks are either mitigated or excluded by taking the necessary measures. Privacy and security assessment processes. This includes the assessment of various scenarios external and internal ones, research and assessment of possible alternatives, and includes exchange with our partners, Microsoft, AWS and Google. We also offer this portfolio to our customers. And this means that either there is a decision to process and store the data in Germany only or we use prems, too, and this is -- we are preparing for the recommendation of the European data protection committee to the transfer of data to third countries. And we do not see any need to set up special provisions. [ Howl Maxlo ] at [indiscernible] asked about advantages for new customers compared to our existing customers. We have a clear focus on our loyal existing customers, and we want to give them the opportunity to have access to the best network with the best service and the best product. In December, we gave all our existing mobile customers 100 gigabyte for free. And we also saw have special offers for new customers. The loyal customers, for example, get an advantage of EUR 120 if they decide for a new product or new rates. So our offers are available for new and existing customers in the same way. And of course, we also want to respond to cancellations of contracts that we get, and we try to convince customers to stay with us. For example -- but it is also usual in the market in the intensive customers to offer new clients, special services and incentives, but we would like to be even more attractive also for our existing customers. If our customers are unhappy with our services, then we would like to help them as much as possible. You asked why the costs for high-speed access of Deutsche Telekom is so expensive compared to other countries. In Germany, the fiber cables have to be underground, and this is much more expensive than in other European countries. The investment, of course, needs to be earned. However, we offer a fair price-benefit ratio with a high quality. If you take into account the purchase price parities in other European countries, some of the cheap offers are no longer that cheap. Switzerland with the largest provider, Swisscom, the entry into the Internet with 50 megabit per second costs CHF 65 per month, EUR 58. In Austria, the A1 tariff costs with EUR 50 with 80 megabits. For Deutsche Telekom, the 50-megabit rate in our normal price costs EUR 39.95 and the 100-megabit rate is EUR 44.95, which is lower. Mr. [ Kutz ], you asked why we increased the prices for our mobile rates. First of all, no, we don't want to lose any customers, but on the contrary, we want to gain new customers. The moderate price adjustment is only applicable to some few old rates. Our current portfolio has been updated in September 2019 for the last time, and we offer more services for our customers. For all the Magenta mobile and family card rates, we more than doubled the data volume. And apart from that, StreamOn is inclusive even in the smallest rate of Magenta Mobile Plus and the streaming offers are not even taken into account. All the rates additionally use the new 5G mobile standard, and this is better services to all our customers in the best mobile phone network. Customers who still use an old rate can change into the new portfolio at any time. Question by [ Gordon Washala ] regarding the integration of T-Mobile U.S. mobile cards into German contract. For Telekom Deutschland and T-Mobile U.S., these are 2 separate companies and 2 separate contract partners for the customers. And this is why it is not possible to integrate T-Mobile U.S. contract into a contract of Telekom Deutschland, but we try, of course, to make the integration as easy as possible. Then your question concerning sports sponsoring, Mr. [ Faisal ]. Sports sponsoring has been an important component of the communication mix for a very long time. Sports sponsoring in telecom group, inclusive of Sprint, amounted to EUR 130 million in 2020. We mostly focused on football, followed by baseball in the United States. The rest of the spending was for sports such as basketball, American football, but also name rights in sports arenas. We do not only -- we are not only active in professional sports, but also in general sports. Mr. [ Faisal ] and Mr. [ Oswald ] concerning the sports sponsoring for Bayern Munich, the volume is in a double-digit million euro area. And please be assured, this is a good ratio. The -- we have a modern sports sponsoring contract focusing on branding on the jerseys, the training, clothing, the banners in the stadium and on the facilities, interview, back walls and the Internet presentation. And we also have possibilities for public relations with players, trainers and the management of the Bavaria Munich. And we also have content rights presence on the digital and social media channels, in the stadiums. And we also have tickets available for the home and the nonhome games. Is that correct, that the strategic development was reviewed or readjusted after the pandemic crisis? We continuously observe and analyze the development, societal trends, technological trends, new regulatory framework conditions. And we, of course, adapt our strategy to the new challenges. COVID-19, however, supported us in our strategy. Our networks were performing in spite of the lockdown. In our operational business, we were very successful. And we provided stable networks and had record high in new contracts, and we have continued fine-tuning of our strategy. But other than that, we did not have complete re-strategy -- new strategy in recent years. Then it was asked whether in view of home office and home schooling, we also have improved the performance of our network. During the pandemic, we improved the services to our customers in many ways. For our mobile phone customers, we offered an additional data volume to our mobile customers of 10 gigabit and we also provided free of charge Cisco Webex licenses to schools for home schooling. We offered an optimized home schooling. We offered Office 365 and Teams to our corporate customers free of charge as well. And at the same time, we, of course, continuously adjusted the capacities in our networks. And this, of course, meant a number of infrastructure investments. Mr. [indiscernible], your new question is about our appealing capacities and whether we plan to increase them. Deutsche Telekom has a total capacity of 60 terabits. And in our information, this is the largest network capacity for Internet connectivity in Germany, so 60 terabits per second. During the pandemic, DT AG has expanded the capacity by about 13 terabits together with partners and customers, and this is around 4 terabits per second more than D6 in Frankfurt has all in all. But in telecom, once you have direct connectivity with the partners and customers because only this will make it possible to have a high-quality control and safe backup. The discussion concerning a commercial platform such as C6 is not meaningful because the D6 platform is a hub switch that connects many partners with many other partners. What we have established would only be possible to a limited extent there and is thus only available for smaller applications or smaller ISPs or smaller traffic. The positive results of the network test of recent years are living proof that this is the right procedure, and we offer everybody a nondiscriminatory access under the given framework conditions at a reasonable price. Mr. [indiscernible] asked about data protection and the use of most recent technologies and how innovation fits in with all of this. Deutsche Telekom feels it's important to be transparent to its customers and employees. This is of primary importance. Wherever we can, we work with consent by users or people kind of opt out. When it comes to AI, artificial intelligence, the outcomes that the applications produce are checked for plausibility and corrected when necessary. In certain areas, we have clear statutory rules. For instance, according to the Telecommunications Act, users have to consent if conversations are to be recorded. And so all factors play a role here, the benefit to the company, the trust of the users and the law. All of these are balanced very carefully indeed. There was also a question about the added value of selfie items of NECT GMBH. This is a possibility to verify the veracity of biometric features such as holograms. However, for the reverse side of the new personal ID, a photograph will be sufficient. It is only verified whether the data corresponds to what's on the front of the ID. According to [indiscernible] and the Accredited Conformity Office, [indiscernible], the data in the passport or the ID are processed in line with the law. Artificial intelligence applications were also verified and certified by [indiscernible] and added value is that the customer doesn't have to wait. The procedure is available around the clock. A shareholder asked about our business around payment services in Hungary. European regulation allows us to pursue new business models and we're trialing one of these in Hungary. The concept foresees the use of our customer app also for payment services in order to make life easier for our customers. You also asked whether we don't have a long-term payment strategy, and you referred to the closure of the online payment service provider, Click and Buy. We are constantly verifying how our portfolio is doing in terms of value contribution. All of the activities and the strategic significance will vary from case to case, but the logic is always the same. At the moment, we don't have a payment strategy as such. Shareholders told us that the beginning, the start time of the events should be included in the financial calendar. Thank you very much. We will look into that, indicate the starting time. Mr. [indiscernible], good afternoon. You asked about the cost that we are paid or that we are paid when our competitors want to use our network. Deutsche Telekom is still regulated quite heavily. And the Federal Network Agency allows for the option to adjust these fees for downstream services according to models for hypothetical networks. The interconnection rates are probably going to be set from the European -- by the European Commission and no longer from the Federal Network Agency. This will happen in summer 2021. It is anticipated that there will be price caps that are fixed across Europe and they will be set via a hypothetical cost model. So that will obviously mean a new orientation. The bitstream products are going to be products for which we can set the fees in corporations with our bitstream with customers without regulatory intervention. A lot has changed in that regard. Christian, over to you.

Thank you very much. I have a question by Yvonne [indiscernible] on the share program for employees. This year, for the first time, we're going to be offering employees the opportunity to buy shares in the company on a voluntary basis. They can invest up to EUR 1,000 in Deutsche Telekom shares. For every 2 shares that they buy, they will be given 1 extra. For this, they will have to hold the shares for 4 years. As I said, this scheme is going to be launched for Germany in 2021 and we're planning to roll it out to the European footprint in 2022. Another question on the share program is this. Will former employees also be able to benefit from this program? The authorization to use our treasury shares will not allow the inclusion of former employees, so no. A question on Item 8 of the agenda. Will Deutsche Telekom be able to trade its own shares in the future? If treasury shares are -- this is not about trading treasury shares. What this is about is to buy back treasury shares. We do not want to trade in our treasury shares. This is just an authorization to buy back treasury shares that are in the market. A question by [indiscernible] on Congstar and how that business has developed. Congstar is a very good business. It is still growing, top line and bottom line, and it's also a very well-known provider. It is contributing a lot to the company's profit. It's boosting our German business. It's helping us remain the leader in mobile communications. So we're very happy with Congstar's development in recent years. Last question. Wanted to know what NatCos in the group are not profitable? Well, as I just said, we do not manage by operating segment. All operating segments on the EBITDA outside are contributing positively, [indiscernible] one exception, and this is how we want things to be. If we look at the operating segment, Europe, for instance, we can see that all European NatCos in addition are making a positive contribution to EBITDA EL. Mr. [indiscernible] was asking about the difference of currencies in our annual report. It is perfectly admittable to show equity and net profit in local currencies. This is what other companies are doing as well. This means that it is easier to compare the information with the information provided in the local financial statements. Deutsche Telekom's financial statements also include an indication of the numbers in the local currency. We are convinced that the way we portray that information meets the needs of the readers appropriately. Mr. [indiscernible] asks to explain how the federal government is exercising its influence and what impact this has on our business. The federal government does have notable influence because it has more than 20% of voting rights directly or indirectly. That is always the case for these kinds of shareholders. It is -- notable influence is exercised by the voting rights in the shareholders' meeting and the fact that there was a representative in the Supervisory Board. However, its influence has no impact on the entrepreneurial decisions that Deutsche Telekom takes. There was a question on the annual report regarding the other -- additional other operating expenditures. EUR 877 million is the figure. The majority of that is accounted for by T-Mobile U.S. Administrative payments, EUR 162 million; catering and association of fees. The same shareholder is asking about the additional other reserves. The figure here at the end of 2020 is EUR 697 million. The main items specifically here are EUR 246 million in connection with the pending transactions. In addition, there's some provisions for warranties for EUR 42 million -- to the tune of EUR 42 million and environmental provisions of EUR 11 million.

I just want to point out that Mr. [ Oswalt ] has told us that he is not withdrawing the questions. Okay. That time, we have to assume that some shareholders didn't ask the question that they wanted to ask because Mr. [ Oswalt ] did it for them. And so all of the questions posed by Mr. [ Oswalt ] will be responded to. And then we'll have to see what we will do if we can account to the same situation in future years, how we're going to handle that.

Okay. Shareholder is asking why we are currently not implementing any capital measures. We believe that a capital increase at the present time is neither necessary nor sensible. Benedict [indiscernible] wants to know what measures we're planning in order to reduce our exposure in case interest rates rise in the next few years. [indiscernible] asked a similar situation. I think I explained how we are planning to reduce net debt in the group. This is mainly going to happen through the free cash flow contribution of our U.S. business, but also the boost to our business outside of the U.S. that is going to return us to the range that we feel comfortable with. Another question was about whether it makes sense to completely reduce the debt of Deutsche Telekom. No, we don't feel that this is sensible. It was asked what parties or political organizations and associations have received a donation from Deutsche Telekom in 2020. We are not allowed to donate to political parties, so we have nothing to report. In the U.S., party donations are not admissible if they come from foreign companies. The general donations that Deutsche Telekom AG made amounted to EUR 2.2 million. EUR 15.6 million is the equivalent amount for the entire group. A question was asked about the interest rates for existing and possible new bank credits. We are predominantly financed by the bond market. The euro exposures have an average interest rate of 1.8%. In the U.S., that's 5%. We also have a liquidity reserve in the amount of EUR 12.6 billion, which revolve every 3 years, and the terms and conditions correspond to those available on the market. [indiscernible] is asking about our bitcoin, our cryptocurrency strategy. Bitcoin is one of the many alternatives of government legitimized currencies, and we regularly exchange with banks about this. We've done a -- there's a small bitcoin [ relevant ], but it's early days yet. Ms. [ Gavins ] is asking about the ROCE, how it developed specifically. Well, in 2016, it was 5.7%; 2017 was 5.8%; 2018 was 4.7%; 2019, it was 5.1%; and in 2020, it was 4.6%. Our ROCE is above the average for 2018. I think I can skip this. Okay. Back to the questions of Mr. [ Oswalt ] that we skipped. Mr. [ Oswalt ] is asking about the [ dual ]. We had 501 -- 5,102 applicants for our [ dual ] study program. 644 were accepted in 2020. All of the students can apply or interested parties can apply. We have an exclusive job exchange for those who are coming out of the course so we can accept them on our payroll. Trading has always been very important thing for Deutsche Telekom. As a company, we want to rise for the social responsibility. We take it very seriously. As at the 31st of December 2020, we had 3,112 trainees and 1,782 students. How does Deutsche Telekom handle cooperation with vocational colleges and non-company training measures? How do we interact? The basis for our corporation is the Vocational Training Act. Deutsche Telekom, as a company, is a place where they learn on the job. We cooperate with the vocational colleges so that the students can benefit. Mr. [ Oswalt ] also wants to ask about retraining or upskilling for older employees. As a rule, everyone can learn anything at Deutsche Telekom, doesn't matter how old they are. Our training profiles are, of course, geared to technology and what the market needs so we always need experts in the areas of cloud, AI, data analytics, software engineering, IT security and agile working. Mr. [ Oswalt ], do you ask whether Deutsche Telekom will have civil servants and what they're costing the company per year? Deutsche Telekom currently has 22,000 civil servants at the moment. According to the law, we have to contribute to the pension fund at the [indiscernible]. These contributions amount to EUR 405 million p.a. However, the number of civil servants is declining and so is that figure. The pension payments are funded from the contributions of the postal successors and income from the federal budget. Mr. [ Oswalt ], you asked whether Deutsche Telekom still have monopolies anywhere. After the liberalization of the telecoms market 20 years ago, we've been faced with strong competition in the German mobile and fixed network market. So Deutsche Telekom, as a rule, is no longer the monopoly holder. For purposes of regulation, however, the antitrust and regulatory authorities are still quite strict. As to the role of Deutsche Telekom in these submarkets, please take a look at the publications of the Federal Network Agency. They have an annual report with all of the details. Mr. [ Oswalt ], you asked about the role of the Federal Network Agency, which is an independent agency whose employees and civil servants are not paid by Deutsche Telekom. They are not colleagues of Deutsche Telekom workers. They are, of course, obligated to maintain neutrality. Mr. [ Oswalt ] asked about the comparability of working arrangements between salaried employees and civil servants. We have -- if you compare the 2 groups in terms of the costs that they produce, there are no significant differences between the 2 groups. If the salaried employees in question are younger and they work for companies with other wage agreements, there may, of course, be some differences in personnel costs, but then you'll be comparing apples with pears.

Thank you, Mr. [ Oswalt ], for your praise that you voiced towards Deutsche Telekom publications and events. We enjoy, of course, the fact that the shareholders appreciate what we do and what we like to show and that they enjoy the services that we provide. We will continue down that route. Mr. [ Oswalt ] asked about the construction sites of Deutsche Telekom. Well, we have plenty of them across the country. We have worked hard to get to where are today. And we believe that construction sites are opportunities. We analyze them, we work on them and so we like to speak to our shareholders about the construction sites. Mr. [ Oswalt ], you also said that customers are building their own networks and you're wondering whether this is business that is passing Deutsche Telekom by. Our fixed line connections are connecting 34 million households already. They are very fast, but of course, we wish to continue growing and making our network even better and faster. The technology of the future to us is fiber, but of course, for that, we need the right circumstances. For instance, we need broad approval for alternative laying -- cable laying. Hendrik Schmidt from DWS Investment and Mr. [ Oswalt ] asked about the obstacles to nationwide digitalization. They're asking about the business potential and the possibilities for the dividend and what role Deutsche Telekom wants to play in digitalization. Speaking about internal digitalization, we have overcome a number of obstacles in recent years. Not for nothing is the subject 1 of the core priorities on my personal CEO agenda for this year, digitalization. The successes and further plans have already been detailed when I answered your other questions. As our business digitalization is, without a doubt, a big opportunity as Deutsche Telekom, we want to be the preferred partner for digitalization and we want to grow with our business customers. We're already grown, by the way. Our IT solutions for small and micro companies, SMEs, large groups and authorities are helping our customers to make the best of the technologies of the future. Focal topics are, for instance, the Internet of Things and cybersecurities. They're becoming more and more relevant, cloud applications and IP networks as well. We also feel that we are a competent partner for digitalization, administration, political, society. And we are very proud that we were chosen to develop the Corona-Warn-App together with SAP. By the way, we also helped implement the virtual federal party conference of the Christian Democrats at the beginning of this year. Digitalization will feature very heavily in the future and it will influence our top line and, of course, our dividend. Mr. [ Oswalt ] also pointed out that there's a great deal to do in the future. We have a clear strategy that we want to implement step by step. We are successful and we want to do everything we can in order to remain successful not just by a certain date but continuously. Mr. Oswalt has praised the work of the back office of this year's shareholders meeting. For sure, I can only agree. Thank you for that. And with that, next chapter [indiscernible]. Thank you very much for writing in. Thank you for your interest, given that you're still a child, and we think it's great that you are a shareholder and it's brilliant that you want to meet me in person. I think it would be lovely if we had a video conference at some point. Or if you can come to Bond, why don't you drop in? On the picture behind me, you can see when I was interviewed by a bunch of children last summer. That was actually one of the best dates that I had, best events that I had that year. And hopefully, you can come to Bond to meet me. Why don't you bring along your parents or your grandparents? It would be lovely to welcome you here in Bond. Smartphones or tablets, cheap enough for young people to buy with their pocket money. Well, that's one of those things. Of course, we have services and products for children, but we can't give away our services and product either because we want to make money. We're a business. But of course, as I said, we have services and products for children. For instance, children can use a GPS-enabled smartwatch, which basically functions like a mobile phone. Or we also have telephony and voice services that children can use in an emergency situation. All that cost is EUR 1 in connection with a rate plan of EUR 9.95 a month, and that will run for 24 months. And this smartwatch can, hence, be paid out of your pocket money, no problem. That monthly amount is cheap enough, of course, or you can ask your parents and grandparents to step in. By the way, we also offer smartphones in connection with a mobile contract. Sometimes, they just cost EUR 1 on top. And there's also the possibility to have a second SIM card, a family card, and that's offered to children and adolescents between 6 and 17 years of age so that your parents don't have to be worried about where you are. [indiscernible] or the child protection app, which helps you to use the Internet safely. Mr. [ Eckhart ], you asked about training. You wanted to know about the number of our trainees and students. We already provided those figures, 5,800 trainees and 2,000 are the -- all the numbers have already been provided. The CEO is reading out the figures broken down by individual group. This includes training of activities for interns and also for refugees and migrants. The group is sending out a specific by doing that. Of the 5,800 trainees, 1,684 were female, and Chairman is providing the figures for other years as well. We have dual students across the German group, Germany, 2 systems, Europe and GHS. They're also working in the technology and innovation department. In 2020, we had 1,700 dual students roundabout, of which 1,200-odd were dual bachelors and remainder were master students. I have answered this question several times already, and so I would like to refer to the answers that I gave in response to Mr. [ Oswalt ]. You also asked about the number of trainees and dual students, whether the pandemic has impacted on that number. No, the numbers have not changed. The pandemic had no impact on these numbers. Last week, by the way, I spent 90 minutes with the trainees, but I didn't -- obviously I asked how they were and they said that they were feeling absolutely fine, but of course, they really want to return to their offices. And all of our dual students and trainees are trained in such a way that they are attractive new employees for us, and a lot of them are also accepted into Deutsche Telekom program. In 2021, we have 1,777 vacancies across the group. 750 are trainee vacancies and around 150 are for dual students. You also asked about the strategy in regard to training and training places. For years, we have been training much more than we actually need. But trainees and dual students are very important and valuable to us, but we do train more than we would need ourselves. Last year and this year, we have been -- we have offered 2,150 places. I think I've mentioned this number several times already. The question also was asked why we don't pay our employees more rather than discussing a high dividend. Deutsche Telekom pays its employees an attractive salary, a competitive salary. The majority of our employees are paid salaries that are negotiated with the unions. I also want to point out that all of our employees are going to be paid a bonus for the great achievements that they have made during the pandemic. By the way, that's going to be tax-free in Germany. We hope that this is a sign of appreciation for our employees. If we look at our currently employee satisfaction service, then I think we can safely say that they are happy. In fact, the satisfaction has been no higher ever than it was last year. We are committed to our dividend policy. The dividend policy foresees that our dividend reflects the adjusted earnings per share, a minimum dividend is always going to be EUR 0.60. Deutsche Telekom has come to know to deliver on its promises in that regard. Mr. [indiscernible] asked how many employees in '18, '19 and '20 were paid without having to provide any kind of service. And if so, how much they were paid. As a rule, all people whose jobs are cut and will be offered a solution, [indiscernible] there's a number of instruments that we can use for that, severance pays, old age partial retirement, early retirement and so on so forth. If the employees decide to not take up our offer, they are transferred to a transfer company. Of course, their employment contract will change. We help them to find a permanent or temporary position elsewhere, which means that they are coached, they are assisted in going into job interviews. Sometimes, they are used temporarily in certain projects. So it is not the case that people are paid for doing absolutely nothing, so no money is paid to people for doing nothing. A question on short-time work. The company that operates the shop is on short-time work or the people employed by that company is on short-time work. That amount that they're paid is 60% of the net salary that they are not receiving. And for employees with children at 67%, employees in [ tax band 5 ] and a child that is not on their tax cut also are paid 60%. The shorter-time work pay goes up to 70% to 77% from month 4 onwards. And from the seventh month onwards, it goes up to 80% to 87%. If they are -- if they stand to lose at least 50% of their income in the month in question, our employees under wage agreements also receive a grant under the wage agreement. This corresponds to the difference between the monthly salary that they do not get paid because they are on short-time work. And 85% of the monthly fee that the employee had -- and if they were not on short-time work, it's quite complex. What I'm saying is they get 85% of their gross salaries. Civil servants are not receiving any short-time pay, so if they are furloughed, then they will only get the actual salary plus a grant amounting to 92% of what the salaries employees get. Here, the effect in numbers, around EUR 11 million in 2020, March, April and May. In 2021 in February, the effect was around EUR 3 million, of which EUR 2 million are liabilities to the Federal Employment Agency. Our shops are reopened in March and so the figures will look very different from those in February. There's a question about the use of home office for the group. For many years now, Deutsche Telekom has to staff a possibility for mobile working. And now you can do it almost everywhere in the group. The call center for customers, systems in Germany has with the [indiscernible] also shifted to home office in order to offer our customers best service during corona. Already at the beginning of the pandemic, Deutsche Telekom also protected its staff by allowing them to work from their home office. The corona month protection regulation, which applied from the end of January 2021 to the end of April 30 made working from home obligatory, has been -- also couldn't practice by us. I have questions from [indiscernible]. First of all, you suggest we publish certain data in the next business report, and I won't make a commitment to this. Now the second -- but we'll try to do that. The second question is whether we can compare ROCE with our most important competitors. Of course, we do that. We just have to look at structural aspects, how it's treated, when a competitor does it, if we're taxed and the approach is slightly different in the U.S. and in Europe. This brings me 2 key systems, the next group of topics and just specifically involves the SAP business. One shareholder wanted to know how much this IT business contributes to our overall EBITDA. Roughly EUR 100 million in earnings or rather in EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA is contributed by us so that's of secondary importance. If the question was about -- another question was about the SAP business in 2020 and which contribution have made. T-Systems is one of the most important partners of SAP. And we have a lot of application business. And there's a SAP natcos, we work together with them and implement solutions for customers. Another question related to the SAP business at T-Systems in 2020. That was also influenced by corona and that's why both in terms of sales revenue and EBITDA, we had a -- we saw a contraction there. With regard to T-Systems and current developments at T-Systems and the impact of corona, their total revenue of the operated business in 2020 was EUR 4.2 billion, which was 5.6% below the previous year. On the one hand, this was due to corona because the IT market contracted steeply. And there are 2 areas particularly affected, digital solutions but also the automotive branch. And positive development in growth areas, we're able to compensate for the decline in the classic areas but not completely. So you can see that corona also provided a positive impetus for digitalization, and that's why our expectations are that we'll stabilize our results this year. There might be a slight decline in the classic IT business but we are forecasting that we'll begin to grow again in those areas. Then a question in IT systems in 2018 and the capital market. We had a net reduction of EUR 100 million for 2017 to 2020. These net savings receive them, we have to have a gross saving, achieve gross savings. And these gross savings, which we cited in the capital markets, were EUR 0.3 billion or EUR 300 million. IT systems though achieved greater savings. The indirect costs were down net by EUR 0.3 billion between 2017 and 2020. Another question is on a possible IPO for a special purpose acquisition company. We're not planning any IPO for T-Systems or areas of it right now. Now let's start with the topic of the DT3 liability for the brochure. We haven't completed this proceeding yet on. And there's been a test case but it hasn't been completed yet, and the Federal Supreme Court has referred it back to Frankfurt Superior Regional Court. So we haven't -- as far as the cost of the ongoing proceedings go, we have been reimbursed from the KFW for the ongoing -- for our cost and ongoing proceedings. Here's a same question regarding DT3. And as I said, it's been sent back to Frankfurt Superior Regional court. Another question in a litigation from Mr. [ Oswalt ] on the T share. This involves DT3, which hasn't been completed and I already just gave the answer to this question. It's been referred back to the Frankfurt Superior Regional Court. Another question was how much money we have paid for the online brokerage platforms in Germany like Check24. The contribution last year was in the middle -- double-digit million area. And compared to the previous year 2019, we were able to decrease it slightly. The amount, as always, related to the respective product, the value of the respective product or tariff. [ Paul ] asked about the -- who is in charge of the real estate business and managing that for the company. That's me and we do this together for the segments as well to optimize our real estate portfolio. [indiscernible], you said that you had the impression that if real estate assets are not used economically, we do see it potential -- clear potential for improvement here and to develop this portfolio. And also you asked how we assess the vacant space right now. We always have to make sure that planning increments are made for entire buildings that we can either use ourselves or lease out, but we also see potential for improvement here as well. Another question relates to other services. And in 2020, for other confirmation services on -- to EY, we paid EUR 2.1 million for tax advice -- sorry, EUR 3.2 million for tax advice and EUR 5.0 million for other services. One shareholder said they would like to record the financial statements conference and that's not allowed, that's prohibited. And with that, I'd give the floor to Mr. Lehner.

Yes. Thank you very much. This brings us to the last block of questions to address here. One shareholder asked about what measures would be taken to increase earnings in the coming years. Well, we have a very strong customer basis and we're banking in the future on keeping our loyal customers so that we can continue to grow with them by offering them an even better telecom experience. Gaming to [indiscernible] network solutions, IoT, enterprise collaboration tools, digitalization of the business processes, more bandwidth and mobile and fixed line. This is all what Deutsche Telekom is doing today in this private business as well as the business area. And that is exactly where we're going to be leveraging our assets in the future in sales to customers. For business customers, we want to offer what shopping more with a modern integrated portfolio. And we are also able, through our organization under the Germany segment, well positioned for this in organizational terms. In the new customer area, we want to grow, especially in the business segment in the U.S.A. where we want to get traction going forward. We have a modern infrastructure, very powerful, and that's the key to also have loyal business customers over the long term. Cost reduction is another element of our growth, and that applies especially to the U.S.A., where in the next 2 years, we will be concentrating on leveraging synergies with Sprint and T-Mobile U.S. One shareholder asked about the medium, long-term strategy for expansion in other business fields. Our networks and telecommunication services as the core of our value creation, both in the medium and long term infrastructure, is something good. And that's why you have to stick to your strengths. And so our focus in investment will be in this area in 2021 as well. More than EUR 80 billion, I could just give you the figures, will be invested in the operation of our networks. That's where our focal point will be our thrust. And we want to also penetrate business fields better closely related to our network. But we don't want to go too far from our core competence. So what we want is to really stay focused on our strengths and offer infrastructural services against TV, smart home applications, gaming ideas. These are examples for new business fields that we're interested in. One shareholder asked about customer verification with the online EID identification function. There's a PIN that's used too and we use this in many shops of our partners who were planning electronics personal identification with a PIN identification for online bookings. And in telecom shops in the future, the ID function on this will be on the identification cuts will be used without a PIN with a CAN procedure. Verified workers will be able to read personal identity cards. Parallel to this, we're working on an ecosystem for identification in which users of different ID systems can place these in encrypted form and use these on a platform. This is part of an initiative of the federal government for electronic identification. Another question relates to long waiting times for our telephone customer service. We -- while not unacceptable, but because of the closure of a lot of telecom shops since the lockdown, there's been an enormous increase in telephoning volumes. People used to be able to go to the store and they can't now so they call. So we've done everything to keep the waiting period as short as possible. And we can solve any problems in the first contact. And to this end, we have launched a whole package of measures and devoted resources to this, time and money. And that also impacts the waiting time. And right now, the current developments are changing rapidly in rare cases. It may be the case in times are longer. And in these cases, we recommend customers use our callback function. So customers can simply wait for us to call back, and we'll try to get back to them as soon as possible. And average waiting time is around 120 seconds right now, which we've arrived at. Before that, it was several minutes so we've really reduced the customer waiting time. And this is attested to by regular consumers out there. And the traffic light system is green right now for us in this regard. Mr. [indiscernible], you asked about the certification of our services based on criteria for the selection of the certifier and the review of distribution and service partners. The service of Telecom is reviewed every year by [indiscernible] in accordance with international standards, ISO 9001 and management systems of ISO 27001 and verified on that basis. A criteria of our reviews in the comparison with all the standards. If a certifier is lost or is -- they're reviewed on the basis of the different criteria, things like reliability and certification was done by the Deutsche because [indiscernible] management system today. The U.S. and above and beyond this, Deutsche Telekom, and within the group, there's other sort of certification parties working to ensure independence of individual partners. Distribution and service partners are verified like [indiscernible] external partners or by our compliance department on a regular basis. So these are all questions that you if you write to us, we can also provide more detailed information on and shareholders interested in Magenta TV and ask how we want to expand our service. We are developing it in tune with customer needs. That includes the pooling and aggregation of a wide variety of services and providers in the streaming area. That means not only direct access to these services like through the user interface or search function. It also means product and price functions and where they can communicate directly. And we'll continue to expand partnership streaming to meet the demands of customers. And by the way, you perhaps heard about the deal in the area of football not only for the European Cup in 2024. We also have the right to the European Cup and the World Cup. So will Magenta's [indiscernible] continue to acquire TV rights for football? Show exclusively football matches? What's the business model in this regard? As I was saying, premium football rights for the Bundesliga in the German market and Champions League were awarded for last year for the next period. And the question arises, so they're not available for purchase right now. Generally speaking, Deutsche Telekom takes part in auctions of sports rights according to certain strategic criteria, whether we take part in a tender or not. As our business concept is based on several pillars, in addition to whether it complements our services and, in particular, against TV platform. Another question is whether the marketing of sports generates revenue. And how long with the media and shift what range of people that you attract through sports. Those are all part of the equation that we consider when we take part in the tender, sporting [indiscernible] sports transmission rights. Another question was whether we would focus more on Magenta TV in the future and also go public with an offer there. Yes, we offer connectivity. Our networks and telecommunications services are at the core of our business. On top of this, we offer select connectivity service smart home, Magenta Gaming and our networks are something that customers experience and these services strengthen our brands by creating an emotional tie and a good customer experience. That's why spinoffs for this certain product line are not being planned. One shareholder asked what importance feels like Magenta TV, cloud and online marketplaces have. First of all, the market of Magenta TV is a very important product for us, and it's an important differentiation in our additional business. We want to be the leading TV platform in Germany and serve our customers with simplicity, the best entertainment. And all of this should be as smart as possible and usable as easily as possible usable. And that's Magenta TV. It's growing, still growing, and we think we have a lot of market potential. Today, we have 4 million customers, [indiscernible] and there's 40 million households in Germany so we have a lot of potential. Though in the private cloud customer area, Magenta Cloud can be used for photos, music and other digital online services and the content can be processed there too. And we can offer this in all devices adds to our customer business and adds to customer loyalty. So we have to do a little bit more. I think we've neglected it a little bit lately but we're working on it. Magenta Gaming allows video gaming. That's a new business model for us, in each platform in hardware, mobile or in the fixed network. But it's all cloud-based. And this is a new product that we've put on the market. We're the first ones to do this and we see huge growth potential here, especially through the real efficiency of networks we have now like 5G or fiber optics. When will the app Disney+ be available through the Magenta product? Disney+ has been available since the 24th of March, on the media receiver last year and on the Magenta receiver. And there's also a monthly subscription possible. And beginning on the seventh of April, another variant is available for a 12-month period for only EUR 5 a month. That option applies to all -- to mobile, fixed network and TV. So you can see how it's really worth being a long-term customer because you get additional services that others don't have access to. So that's a real added value for customers. We see a lot of growth potential through this exclusive offer via telephone. Disney was a common topic over the last year. So that's the end of my presentation, Elena. Thank you for listening.

That was a great advertising. I have some questions that relate to the Supervisory Board now. You asked whether the applicant, Dr. [indiscernible], has enough experience to work on the Supervisory Board. The Supervisory Board has ascertained that [indiscernible] has enough time and is adequately experienced for her job on the Supervisory Board. Mr. Schmidt from DWS. Thank you for pointing out that Mrs. [ Yung ] is also a suitable candidate for the Audit Committee. That's what you said and we agree. We think it's good to have a system that is based on rotation and the various committees. Please refer to Page 9 of the annual report for further details. In 6 out of 8 committees, there were changes in staff in terms of the composition of the committees. How do we continue with the Supervisory Board? Please refer to the annual report to learn more about current appointment periods. Whenever a new member is to be appointed, we look into it in depth in order to refill any vacancies in line with the skills required for the Supervisory Board. Mr. Schmidt, you asked why Mr. [ Singer ] and Ms. [indiscernible] labeled as independent on the committee. This is based on the recommendations of the German Corporate Governance Code. According to this code, a Supervisory Board member is deemed to be independent if he or she are independent from the Deutsche Telekom Board and from any shareholder. From the point of view of the employer on the Supervisory Board, this is the case that we are not aware of any conflicts of interest. If you are referring to the interaction with representatives of the German government, this does not apply here. Mr. Schmidt, you also asked on what findings we derive from the specific evaluation of the Audit Committee. The finding was that the Audit Committee already works in a very efficient and effective way. At the same time, we identified potential on how to improve even further, and we derive relevant action to make the Audit Committee more efficient. It was asked whether Mrs. [indiscernible] is going to step back from more mandates over the next 12 months. The answer is no, there are no such plans. Mr. [ Mates ] from [ DK Investor ], on your question in how far the Supervisory Board prepared itself to look into related EU requirements on taxation and how these requirements are met in our committee. The Supervisory Board, even today, audit the declarations from the nonfinancial statement in line with EU requirements for taxonomy and sustainability. With Mr. [indiscernible], the Supervisory Board already has a member who is very skilled in this field, and the Supervisory Board has appointed her as an expert in this field. In addition to the Supervisor Board, the Audit Committee also deals with this subject. And when it comes to the audit of the nonfinancial statement, the Supervisory Board regularly obtains support from an independent auditing company. Then Mr. Schmidt with further questions and Mr. [indiscernible] from DSW. You wanted to know what is the current status of your search for new members on the Supervisory Board. The answer -- for new Chairman of the Supervisory Board. Well, as you know, I will leave the Supervisory Board as Chairman next year. We have a structured succession process in place. This has been coordinated with the Nomination Committee. A proposal for my successor be submitted in time before the next shareholders' meeting where a decision will be made. And I can confirm that we are also taking into account external candidates. Then a further question. Are you going to make sure that we have equal representation on our committee -- on the Deutsche Telekom committees in the future? And Mr. Schmidt asked the same question for the Audit Committee in particular. Let me repeat that the Corporate Governance Code prescribes that most of the members be independent, but no such rules are in place for the actual committees. According to the shareholder representatives, all of our members are independent, including the members on our committees. Then another question from union. The question was about the future criteria applied to members on the Supervisory Board. When appointing a successor for a post, we are deciding in line with the relevant code and requirements. The goal with view to the international setup of the company is to make sure that we also have sufficient members with an international background and relevant experience. The declaration on corporate governance online can be used to obtain further details. I would like to point out that you don't -- that it is not enough to not have a German passport in order to demonstrate that you are considered to be international. Another question is whether the Supervisory Board supports the statements made by the Board of Management. For recap, this was about the request to add additional items to the agenda. The Supervisory Board did not issue a statement on that. As the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Telekom, I fully support the statement made by the Board of Management in this context. Then there was a question on the remuneration report. I already said it this morning, we've got nothing to hide. We are publishing the remuneration report for the Supervisory Board and the Board of Management with all the relevant details, in line with the rules of the Corporate Governance Code. Mr. [ Oswald ] and Ms. [ Van der Houtaka ] from Union Investor asked a question regarding corporate governance. At Deutsche Telekom, we believe that a good corporate governance is a central management task and the basis for our corporate success. The Supervisory Board and the Board of Management have familiarized themselves with the recommendations of the new German Corporate Governance Code, and we are going to apply both national rules and comply with international standards as well. I was pointing out this morning that we are constantly in touch with shareholder representatives and others in the run-up to the shareholders' meeting. I myself, as the Chairman, also regularly meet up with investors to discuss these things. Mr. Oswald, with regards to the election of Supervisory Board members, you were asking about the election criteria, and you were suggesting that their qualification is not the only relevant factor. Let me state, first of all, that I don't really mean -- don't really understand what you mean by qualification. Because qualification, to my mind, comprises all sorts of things, not just the way you're trained, but also your cultural background and your behavior as a human being. Well, with this in mind, we always consider the overall qualification of an individual in order to determine whether they are suitable for the Supervisory Board or not. And no other criteria play a major role. And there are specific targets for filling positions on the Supervisory Board, as I said before. Let me give you a couple of examples, but please also refer to the annual report. Strategic competence, financial competence, controlling competence, innovation competence, sustainability and social competence, these are factors that play a central role. But in addition to that, you should have a speak up mentality and be committed to actively join in. Mr. Oswald, you were interested to learn more about, well, what my ordinary working day looks like. I would like to invite you to see for yourself what it looks like, but then there is no ordinary workday for me anyway. Due to my tasks on the Supervisory Board, my working days vary a great deal. Today, for instance, we are holding the shareholders' meeting, then we will have a meeting to discuss the remuneration system with Mr. Hottges and the other Board members. And when it comes to staff issues, which are particularly tricky, I often speak to all sorts of different people on the phone. So thank God, I don't have any, well, typical working day, so to speak. Mr. Oswald asked about the total cost of the annual financial statements in 2020, that was EUR 17 million, of which EUR 15 million for the final audit; other auditing services, EUR 1 million; tax consulting, 0; other services, EUR 1 million and the other individual services are prescribed. Mr. [ Schmidt ] from DWS. You asked about the increase in share of phantom shares as a result of our dividend policy. The Supervisory Board is paid a fixed remuneration, no phantom shares. And that's why the dividend policy does not have an influence as suggested by you. Then meeting fees. This question cropped up several times. The meeting fee amounting to EUR 1,000 for Supervisory Board members is in the lower range compared to other companies. Some people are assuming that people are only attending meetings because they are paid this fee. I wouldn't have a problem with -- including such meeting fees in fixed remuneration. But the way we handle it is in line with market standards anyway. So I already talked about phantom shares. Then there was another question here on meeting fees and said here, if that's the case, then we have to reject item 10 on the agenda. So let me refer you back to what I was just saying. Then a question from [ Fabian Kupfer ] referred to the number of Supervisory Board mandates of Mr. Hottges with Daimler. The Supervisory Board activities of Mr. Hottges outside of Deutsche Telekom are in line with the German Corporate Governance Code, and they also help them to even improve his expertise. Mr. Hottges is a member of the Supervisory Board of 2 listed companies. FC Bayern is not to be included in this because it is not a listed company nor can it be compared to a listed company. One question from Mr. [ Weiden Muller ] regarding the remuneration systems. As mentioned in today's agenda, and whether it includes employees as well, the answer is no. We are dealing with the remuneration paid to Supervisory Board members and the Board of Management here. Individual components also apply to individual employees in a different form. I already pointed out that one constituent element of our system is that we have an end-to-end structure in place, which is why some elements may turn out to be identical. Then a question on the election of Dr. Helga Jung for another term and the question was whether we were not able to find another suitable lady. Answer, Mrs. Jung is a business management expert, and she used to work for Allianz, which means that she has years of experience in terms of national and international management. With her expertise, she continues to be an ideal member for us on the Supervisory Board. And I already said previously that we are glad to have Mrs. Jung on the Supervisory Board as a member. She proved to be a valuable colleague over the past 5 years, and it is possible to serve on the Supervisory Board for 3 terms. She hasn't served for 3 terms yet, which is why what we are doing now is in line with the rules and regulations. And I already commented on meeting fees. [ Andreas Arndt ], you asked whether a committee, such as [ Care ], makes sense? We are discussing anything to do with sustainability on the Supervisory Board as a whole. And I already pointed out that in Ms. Suckale, we have a true expert from this field on our committee, and other supervisory board members have also gained a lot of experience on sustainability and other companies, which is why the Supervisory Board as a whole is dealing with this quite successfully. Then a question that is relevant to all of us today. How many participants were attending the meeting at the beginning of Mr. Hottges' speech as opposed to the beginning of the Q&A? At the beginning of today's AGM, we had 1,050 shareholders or their proxies on our Internet Dialogue. At the same time, we had around 300 -- 3,700 accesses to the live stream. By the end of Mr. Hottges' speech, we had 1,000 people on the Internet Dialogue and around 4,500 people using the live stream. So Mr. Hottges, apparently, that was a very inspiring speech. And now -- right now, we have 400 people on the Internet Dialogue, shareholders or their proxies, and 2,900 people accessing or using the live stream. I think that's a great number, and it shows that, thankfully, you show a keen interest in this company. Mr. [ Schmidt-Fitzner ], I look at you, and I can see your thumbs up. So now let me look at Mr. Hottges, Mr. Illek. Okay. So ladies and gentlemen, all questions submitted on the agenda items have been answered. Thank you to all those who submitted questions, showing an interest in this company, which is your company. The Q&A session is now closed. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, voting will commence shortly. Under Section 17, Paragraph 2 of the Articles of Incorporation, it is my responsibility as Chairman of this meeting to stipulate the type and sequence of the vote. As in previous years, the results of the vote will be determined using the addition method. This means that the yes and no votes will be counted separately and added to determine the number of votes cast. Abstentions are not counted accordingly. The official result of the vote will be determined electronically under the supervision of the notary public. As the shareholders are only represented here today by the proxyholders appointed by the company, vote casting will continue with a sign-off of the votes to be cast by said proxyholders in line with the instructions issued to them, which have been uploaded to the system. The voting instructions indicate for each individual item for how many shares the proxyholders were requested to vote yes or no. By signing off, the proxyholders undertake to cast the votes as laid down in the voting instructions. The proxyholders sign off the votes by placing their signature under the instructions as displayed in the system. The postal or online votes received by the company were registered electronically and will be accounted for in the vote count. In other words, the yes and no votes received by post or online will be added to the yes and no votes of the proxyholders. As for the countermotions, I already mentioned that I shall point out that I will first call a vote on the motion submitted by management. If these are accepted with the majorities needed, the countermotions will be redundant and will not have to be voted upon. Otherwise, we will have to proceed accordingly. We can now proceed to the vote under management motions regarding agenda items 2 through 10. And the proposed resolution on agenda Item 11 submitted by DSW acting on behalf of and by proxy for BayernInvest. On Item 2 of the agenda, you will be asked to vote on the resolution proposed by the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board, which has been adjusted to reflect the number of shares carrying dividend rights of which I informed you ahead of the Q&A session just after reading out agenda items 2 through 11. The proposed resolution is available for inspection in this room. As for items 3 through 10, we will vote on the management motions as shown in the invitation to today's shareholders' meeting, which was published in the Federal Gazette on the 26th of February 2021. As for agenda item 11, we will vote on the proposal submitted by DSW acting on behalf of and by proxy for BayernInvest as shown in the amended agenda published in the Federal Gazette on the 3rd of March 2021. With regard to items 3 and 4, I shall make reference to the prohibition of exercising voting rights pursuant to Section 136 of the German Stock Corporation law. With regard to Item 5, I shall point out that there will be separate votes on the appointment of PwC suggested in sub items a to d. The resolutions on items 2 to 6 and items 9 and 10 require a simple majority of valid votes cast. The resolutions on items 7 to 8 require a simple majority of votes cast and a majority of the capital stock represented in the vote on the resolution. The resolution on agenda Item 11 requires a simple majority of the valid votes cast and the capital stock represented in the vote on the resolution. The list of participants has been updated. The updated attendance figure is like this. Addendum to the attendance figure for the shareholders' meeting of Deutsche Telekom AG on the first of April 2021 in Bonn. Attendance or the number of shares for postal votes has changed in the meantime -- at the moment. At this shareholders' meeting, we have 3,245,285,340 no-par shares, which corresponds to EUR 8,307,930,470.40 or 68.16% of the capital stock, which consists of 4,761,458,566, amounting to EUR 12,189,334,005.76. In addition, postal votes were cast for 27,766,957 no-par value shares, which will be taken into account for the final vote. So let me sum up. Overall, we have EUR 3,273,052,279 no-par value shares represented in this AGM or through postal votes, which corresponds to 68.74% of capital stock. Let me hand this over to the notary public. The updated list of participants is available for perusal here in the room. I shall point out again that information from the list of participants and on the attendance figure can be accessed via the password-protected Internet Dialogue during the shareholders' meeting. Ladies and gentlemen, you have now, now meaning 4:48 p.m., which means you now have 6 minutes. So 48 plus 7, that means 4:55 p.m. This is the time that you've got to issue, amend or withdraw your postal or online votes, proxies or instructions issued to the proxyholders appointed by the company. You can use the password-protected Internet Dialogue for this purpose. So after 4:55 p.m., the votes will be cast by the proxyholders appointed by the company who are here on site. So let's take a quick break. [Break]

Ladies and gentlemen, let me point out that the time to issue, amend or withdraw your postal or online votes, proxies or instructions issued to the proxyholders appointed by the company will end shortly at 4:55 pm. [Presentation]

Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, the possibility to issue, amend or withdraw your postal votes or online votes, proxies or instructions issued to the proxyholders appointed by the company ends now. The relevant functions in the password-protected Internet Dialogue will now be closed. I hereby open the voting procedure, and would ask the proxyholders appointed by the company to sign off the votes in line with the voting instructions on the motions for resolutions by management on items 2 through 10 and the motion for resolution on Item 11, submitted by DSW acting on behalf of and by proxy for BayernInvest. This will take a little while. Please be -- please bear with us for a few minutes. We'll have a short break. [Break]

Ladies and gentlemen, the meeting continues. I now have the results of the vote. The shareholders' meeting has approved all management motions under items 2 through 10 with the necessary majority. The proposed resolution on agenda Item 11, submitted by DSW on behalf and by proxy for BayernInvest was rejected. The detailed results of the vote will be published online very soon. Allow me to inform you of the results of the votes on items 2 through 11 of the agenda. Votes on the ordinary shareholders meeting of Deutsche Telekom AG on the 1st of April 2021 in Bonn. Ladies and gentlemen, I will now announce the results on the items 2 through to 11 on the agenda -- 2 through 10 and 11 on -- agenda Item 11 submitted by DSW on behalf of and by proxy for BayernInvest, and I will adopt the decisions. The presence was [ 3,245,285,647 ] votes, taking into account 27,801,297 votes submitted by postal vote, which is 68.74%, which is [ 4,761,458,596 ] stocks of the share capital. On Item 2, the result was as will be shortly shown on the screen. Item 2 was approved with 99.86%, giving it the necessary simple majority. So the dividend payment of EUR 0.60 per share was decided as shown in the management proposal on Item 2 on the agenda. As I already explained to you, it's the beginning of the meeting before we started the Q&A session. On Item 3 of the agenda, the shareholders submitted their votes on the approval of the activities of the members of the Supervisory Board. This motion was approved with 99.70% of the votes, reaching the required simple majority for this resolution. Mr. Hottges, a big thank you to you and your team and congratulations on this result that really shows the trust of the shareholders you enjoy. You're beaming now. But well, the vote in favor of the dividend was even higher, but it's even better now coming to Item 4 on the agenda. Here, the result of the vote is that the motion was approved with a majority of 88.61% of the valid votes cast, which is the necessary simple majority. I was only asked to read, not to comment. But if I were to comment, then I would express my hope that this does not include double votes, votes that are both meant for the compensation system and the independence. But all in all, I would like to thank you, 88.61% expressed their trust in the work by the Supervisory Board. On Item 5 on the agenda, the results are as follows. The result for Item 5a is 94.23% of the valid votes cast, which is the necessary simple majority. So PwC, Frankfurt am Main, was appointed external auditor for the fiscal year 2021, and you can find the detailed motion in the invitation to this meeting and the agenda. Thank you very much for giving this vote and for settling this matter and that we can now appoint PricewaterhouseCoopers for the next year. Agenda Item 5b was approved with 94.22% of the valid votes cast, reaching the necessary simple majority. So PricewaterhouseCoopers Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, Frankfurt am Main, was appointed external auditor for the interim financial statement and the management report on the basis of the law for the business year 2021. You can see the details concerning this motion under Item 5 in the invitation to this meeting. Item 5c on the agenda was approved with 94.45% of valid votes cast, and this means that the appointment of Ernst & Young GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, Stuttgart, as the external auditor for the interim financial reports in line with the Stock Corporation Act for the first quarter of 2021 was rescinded, and PwC Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, Frankfurt am Main, was appointed as the external auditor for the review of additional financial statements and reports based on the act for the first quarter 2021. The complete wording of the resolution can be found under Item 5c in the agenda published with the invitation? Item 5d on the agenda. Agenda item 5d was approved with a majority of 94.21% of valid votes cast, reaching the required simple majority. So PricewaterhouseCoopers Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, Frankfurt am Main, was appointed for a possible review of additional interim financial reports for what is mentioned in the agenda. The complete wording of this resolution can be found under agenda Item 5d in the invitation published in the Federal Gazette. On Item 6 on the agenda. The agenda Item 6 was approved with 97.89% of valid votes cast, reaching the required simple majority of votes. So Dr. Helga Jung is elected as member of the Supervisory Board, and the complete wording of the resolution can be found under Item 6 in the invitation published. We are happy about the trust shown to the Supervisory Board regarding this proposal, and Mrs. Jung, we are happy that you stay as a member of the Supervisory Board, and we are looking forward to good cooperation. Congratulations to this election. I'm sorry that you cannot say anything right now, but I can see that you are talking. On Item 7 on the agenda. Agenda Item 7 was approved with a majority of 93.46% of the valid votes cast, reaching the necessary simple majority of 3 quarters of the represented stock capital. So there was a resolution on the authorization to acquire and use own shares with possible exclusion of subscription rights and any right to tender shares as well as the option to redeem the own shares. And the full wording can be found under Item 7 on the agenda as published in the invitation. We'd like to thank you for the flexibility that can be used if it was necessary. Thank you very much. This is not a matter, of course. On Item 8 of the agenda. The results are shown on screen. The result of this vote is majority of 93.85% of valid votes cast, which is the necessary majority of 3 quarters of the represented stock capital and the simple majority of votes. This is referring to the authorization to use equity derivatives to acquire own shares with possible exclusion of any right to tender shares. The full wording can be found in -- under Item 8 in the agenda published. Thank you very much for this resolution as well. Item 9 on the agenda. The resolution was adopted with 72.7% of the valid votes cast, reaching the necessary simple majority of votes. So this is the resolution on the approval of the compensation system for the Board of Management members. The full wording can be found under agenda Item 9 in the invitation. Let me say very clearly that it is not in line with the expectations that we had when we developed the compensation system, and we now have to -- what we do about this resolution, that is not fully satisfactory to us. And I think that the component of the extraordinary bonus payments has contributed to this decision, and we will review the matter, but I still see this as a very clear message that we now have to assess. Item 10 on the agenda. The resolution was adopted with 99.15% of valid votes cast, reaching the necessary simple majority of votes. So this was the resolution on Item 10, and the full wording can be found under Items 10 -- under Item 10 in the agenda made public with the invitation. So here, this is the [ higher value ], and this concludes the votes on agenda items 2 through 10 of the agenda. They were all adopted, and this means that we no longer have to vote on the countermotions. It's not necessary to vote on the countermotions. On Item 11 of the agenda, this is the proposed resolution submitted by DSW on behalf of and by proxy for BayernInvest as published in March in the Federal Gazette. Only 45.51% of the valid votes cast were in favor of the resolution proposed. And this means that the proposed resolution by DSW on behalf of and by Proxy for BayernInvest has not received the necessary majority but was rejected by the shareholders' meeting, and this change in the Articles of Incorporation will not be made. This makes it easier for us, but the result is quite tight. So much on the results. Ladies and gentlemen, we have now reached the end of our agenda. I would very much like to thank you also on behalf of the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board for your participation in this year's virtual shareholders' meeting. And again, I deplore that it was a virtual meeting. I really have fond memories of our physical shareholders' meetings, and I really hope that we will soon meet again for the next shareholders' meeting. I would like to thank those employees who helped in the preparation and organization of this shareholders' meeting and have been instrumental in ensuring the smooth running of events. What was missing, our trainees, who normally collect the votes, next year, hopefully, they will be here again, and we will have a full hall. In conclusion, may I point out that the next ordinary shareholders' meeting of Deutsche Telekom AG is scheduled to take place on April 7, 2022, in Bonn. Dear shareholders, we hope we will then be able to welcome you again in person. Thank you to all of you. And as pointed out in the beginning, I have to wait for 5 minutes before I formally close the meeting for legal reasons. I wish you nice holidays. Take care, stay healthy, and thank you very much for the interest you showed in the company. Mr. Hottges said it's best if our customers become our fans. For the shareholders, we know that you are already our fans. I hope you will stay. Thank you.